


shape of our love

by rhistyjink



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: College, Domestic, Married Characters, Multi, Mythical Wives, OT4, Polyamory, Porn with Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:47:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22822030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhistyjink/pseuds/rhistyjink
Summary: A completely fictional and gratuitous [AU] account of the evolving natures of the relationships between randl and their (eventual) wives.
Comments: 62
Kudos: 44





	1. parts i-x

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to archive my little ficlet series from Tumblr. So I am going to do that here. I will post Chapters here as a collection of 10 ficlets. (i.e., **Chapter 1** will be **parts i-x** ; **Chapter 2** will be **parts xi-xx** ; etc.).
> 
> Edit: Ultimately, I changed over to more traditional chapter by chapter updates as the chapters became longer 🧡

i.

Link’s breath is hot and heavy in Rhett’s ear as they thrust into one another’s lotioned up hands. There seems to be extra urgency in the way Link is getting after it today. He’s extra needy, extra whiny, extra tender. The first part could easily be attributed to being in a hurry as their other suitemates could be back at any minute. But the last part. Makes Rhett feel like it could be the last time. And that’s the worst part of their relationship. It always feels like it could be the last time. Like maybe Link will decide that what they are doing is wrong. Or a remnant from childhood games that went too far for too long. He didn’t want any of it to ever end. Including this moment with Link’s hand around his cock, the other hand holding onto the cotton bedsheets for dear life. The scent of his sweat and sweet breath alive in Rhett’s nostrils. Link’s getting close, Rhett can tell. And he’s right there with him. 

“Oh baby,” Rhett whimpers into Link’s damp hair. 

“I don’t want to stop,” Link husks into Rhett’s ear, giving it a little nibble. 

The way that Link says it makes the bottom fall out of Rhett’s stomach. 

“Then don’t?”

“Oh Rhett!” Link buries his cry into the pillow as he cums into Rhett’s palm and between their bellies. 

Rhett is glad that this is happening in his bunk and his pillow. If Rhett’s worst fears are confirmed, at least his pillow and sheets will smell of him for a while after. 

“Gosh Link,” Rhett mumbles breathlessly as he mixes his own pleasure with Link’s. He tries to even his breathing out. “You’re so sexy when you… you know? Like this.”

ii.

Link rolled over and stared at the ceiling. 

“Link? Are you okay. You seem… Somewhere else.”

Link didn’t speak for a while. And when he finally did he said what Rhett had always feared:

“I… I met somebody.”

Rhett felt like he might throw up. 

“Okay. Well, then why did THAT just happen? You must not care that much about her? Is it a her, right?”

“It is. And I do. Her name is Christy and-“

“I don’t wanna hear this right now man! Your jizz is still warm in my hand, and-“

“I’m not, well I don’t even know if breaking up is the right word for this? But that’s not what I want to do.”

Rhett’s throat tightened. The last thing he wanted to do was start crying. 

“That’s what it feels like,” he managed. 

“You’re gonna have to tell me if you’re not okay with this.”

“Or what? Your just gonna start this new relationship with this girl with lies and cheating?”

“I don’t want to lie to anybody,” Link said quietly. 

He sounded so naively sincere that it broke Rhett’s heart. 

“So what then? Are you gonna tell her about me? About us? About… this?” Rhett vaguely gestured to the mess of bedding that surrounded them. 

Link smiled, which Rhett thought was kind of strange at a time like this.

“She asked me if I was gonna tell YOU about her.”

“She-? She knows about me? That we… that we’re-?”

“Together? Yeah. I had to tell her because like I said I don’t want this to stop between us. And I don’t want to lie to anybody.”

Silence again. But Rhett was no longer feeling nauseous. He was feeling… curious. 

“What’s she think about all this?”

“Well, one thing is for sure, she really wants to meet you!”

iii.

“Are you nervous?” Rhett asked Link as they walked to the party. Their hands would brush by one anothers as they walked. Link locked pinkies briefly for security.

“Not really. I’m more nervous that you might be nervous.”

“I am.” Rhett figured there was no point denying it. Link would know, or would figure it out.

“It’s probably the best case scenario. Her friends will be there. Our friends will be there. If goes badly, at least we can retreat to our separate camps and not be stuck in a bad situation.”

“And then?”

“Figure it out later. I’m not going to plan in any more detail than I already have, what might happen if this doesn’t work. I really want this to work.”

Rhett bit his tongue. What were the chances that this went smoothly? Who did they think they were, trying to have their cake and eat it too? But if Link wanted to be optimistic, Rhett could be that for him. 

There wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for Link, as evidenced by this plan to enter into this unconventional relationship with his girlfriend. 

It kind of felt like an arranged marriage. Like Link had picked her for the both of them. To be what? Best friends? Tolerate each other? Love each other? And what kind of love? The possibilities were overwhelmingly endless.

When they got to the party, Rhett could see how Link and Christy recognized each other across the room.

There was real chemistry there and Rhett wasn’t sure how to feel about it. 

He found that his heart was fluttering as Link led her toward him to make the introductions.

They shook hands in an awkwardly formal way. But he liked the way she smiled. Maybe there was chemistry for them too. Objectively, she was a pretty girl, and there was a boldness in how she carried herself that Rhett enjoyed. As well as a softness. 

But as the evening wore on, the thing that really struck Rhett was the way that she looked at Link. How she laughed at his jokes. Rhett knew exactly how she felt, because he felt that way too. He still remembered when he first began to have capital F feelings for Link, how he was moved by every aspect of him. 

It was unusual to be able to witness it in someone else, and understand it. It was unexpectedly heartwarming to see the same bond forming anew… to watch someone fall in love with the man that he loved. And instead of thinking “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” thinking “Yes. I get it. I feel the same way.” 

What a gift...

iv.

Rhett settled into an easy rhythm with Link and Christy. Not much had really changed and it was kind of nice that they were able to shift around each other’s schedules. Sometimes Christy would be busy and Rhett and Link got their alone time. They still got to fool around, and they didn’t have to worry about Christy “finding out” or getting upset. When Rhett had extra basketball practices or games he didn’t have to worry about neglecting Link. And Link was just so efficient with his scheduling that he never struggled with fitting in enough time or attention with Rhett or Christy. 

Sometimes they’d all hang out together in their room and watch a movie. Link might hold his hand, or lean on his shoulder and it was perfect. And it bothered him less and less to see the affection between Christy and Link. It was open and it was not exclusive of him. It was love, and Rhett thought that Link deserved as much love as the universe had to give him. 

Rhett hadn’t had a lot of one-on-one time with Christy aside brief moments when Link went to the bathroom, took a shower or was running late from class. Link had expressed that he wanted them to interact more. Go on dates. Make their relationship more triangular than v-shaped. Rhett wasn’t opposed to getting to know Christy better, it just hadn’t happened organically for them.

One day Rhett returned back to the dorm early. He’d had an exam that day, and only needed one of the three hours permitted. He didn’t even think to knock before entering. 

Which is how it was that he came to find Christy straddling Link’s lap with her shirt rucked up to her chin. In the dimmed light, Link had two hands full of her pale breasts when she leaned back to cover herself, startled by the opening of the door. 

Rhett quickly closed the door behind him and kept his back turned, apologies just tumbling out of his mouth. 

“It’s just Rhett,” Rhett heard Christy whispering. 

“I know, I know. I just-”

“Rhett honey,” she beckoned. “It’s okay, you should come sit down.”

Rhett took a seat on the chair opposite the sofa where they were still half naked covered up in blankets. 

“I can leave. I should have-“

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Christy reassured him. “Now, this is a good a time as any for us to… talk.”

Link raised an eyebrow, and Christy nodded. 

Rhett’s heart hammered in his chest. 

She allowed the blankets to fall to her lap, and did not cover herself. 

“Do you wanna join us, Rhett?”

v.

“It’s not that I wouldn’t wanna. Gosh, who wouldn’t? But maybe we should get to know one another more? It feels… disrespectful. I don’t want to mess things up for any of us.”

“You’re sweet,” Christy said kindly. “I can see why Link likes you.”

Rhett’s face was on fire and he had trouble keeping his eyes from drifting to her exposed breasts. He was hard in his pants seeing them like this. Thinking about what they might be doing right now if he hadn’t walked in. 

“You can look,” she coaxed, and she didn’t need to tell him twice. His eyes drank her in. 

“This is…” Link began. He locked eyes with Rhett. “This is something else, huh?”

“Is that what you want for now, Rhett honey?” Christy asked softly, raising her fingertips to touch her nipples, and humming softly, “To look?” 

“What- uhh. What all were y’all planning to do?”

“How far have _you two_ gone?” She directed the question to Link. 

“I asked first!” Rhett interjected. 

Link answered for everyone. “We’ve done hand stuff. Both of you. And with Rhett…” Link gave Rhett a significant look, as if asking permission to divulge details of their private time. “Mouth stuff.”

“Wow,” Christy said excitedly, turning her gaze away from Link. “Is he good with his mouth, Rhett?”

Rhett’s jaw dropped and he could only manage to answer by nodding dumbly. 

“Do you want to find out?” Link teased. He looked to Rhett. “What do you think, Rhett? Is this something you wanna see?”

“Is it- Are you sure, Christy?”

“You can stay,” she said. “And even if you don’t join us, I hope you’ll take your little dick out so we can get you off… indirectly?” She made a jerk-off motion and Rhett thought he was gonna choke on his saliva. 

Rhett rubbed the front of his pants, and nodded. 

Link laid Christy down and pulled down her light wash jeans, and shimmied her panties down. 

Link spread her legs and Rhett could feel their excitement. They’d never done this before, he reminded himself. 

Link dipped his head down and Christy clutched at the sides of the couch. 

vi.

Christy moaned. “Your mouth is so warm.” 

Rhett couldn’t take it, he shoved his pants down to his thighs, spit into his hand and began to stroke himself as he watched Link make Christy whine and arch her back as licked at her clit and buried his face into her pussy. 

Rhett’s brain was going a million miles a minute with where he could imagine inserting himself into the scene before him. He wanted to be everywhere at once. But at the same time wasn’t sure he belonged anywhere. 

“They invited you,” he silently reminded himself. “You didn’t ask for this.”

Before he knew it, Christy was cumming. And she was beautiful, her hands holding Link’s face on her while she grinded her hips against him in her pleasure.

Rhett came into his own hand just as Link was pulling off of her, the lower half of his face shiny and wet. 

Rhett could see Link’s neglected erection bobbing as he knelt between her legs and he wanted desperately to get his hands on him. 

“Rhett, please?” Link whimpered, looking from Rhett to Christy. 

Ignoring any potential awkwardness of the mess in his hands or his softening spent cock, Rhett rushed to the couch to kiss Link. Link moaned against his lips, the taste of Christy still fresh on his lips.

Rhett wrapped his hand around Link’s engorged cock and Link buried his head into Rhett’s neck, just barely hanging on. Rhett slithered out of Link’s hold and dropped to his knees.

“Rhett, baby,” Link mumbled. “I’m too close. I’m gonna...”

Rhett wasn’t sure if it was Christy’s presence that made him want to taste him. Whether he was one-upping her or staking some sort of claim. Usually they’d just suck each other and then finish into each other’s hands. But suddenly Rhett really wanted to try this.

Link steadied a hand on Rhett’s shoulder and his hips bucked as he came into Rhett’s mouth. 

Rhett chickened out and couldn’t make himself swallow. He dribbled Link’s load back onto Link’s thigh. 

“Nice try, babe.” Link snorted.

“Whatever. You got nothing to complain about!”

Rhett almost forget that Christy was in the room. Not that he wanted to forget. It was just that easy to get lost in Link. They hadn’t exactly had a threesome. But it had been SOMETHING. And it was something that Rhett was wanting to happen again.

Soon.

And often.

vii. 

Rhett had made good on his intentions to get to know Christy better. Not only so that he would feel better about being intimate with her. With them… But it seemed to strengthen their bond all around. They spent more time together as a group, studying quietly in a pile, sometimes going out to dinner together. Though they didn’t always love that, since they couldn’t be as openly affectionate with one another. They ordered a lot of takeout and ate together in the comfort of their own dorm. 

Rhett and Christy started going on their own dates. They didn’t really get physical without Link there. And even then, it was usually each of them with Link. Rhett and Christy would watch one another and openly admire one another. But there was still an invisible barrier that they hadn’t quite crossed. Despite Link’s urging them to explore one another. 

But they were in no hurry. 

One evening they all got to talking and Christy has to know: “You guys still haven’t…” She stopped and thought how to more thoughtfully phrase it. “Anything… penetrative?” 

Link openly winced. “That doesn’t particularly sexy, Chris.”

“It doesn’t?” Rhett joked. 

Christy laughed before going on to clarify, “I just meant that, I know you and I have talked about waiting. Not for God or the church or parents or anything. But just something special that we can do together for the first time if we ever get married.”

“That’s a nice idea,” Rhett nodded.

“But y’all two aren’t ever gonna get _married_ , are you?” 

Rhett’s stomach sank. No, they likely wouldn’t. He felt like there was a parallel universe where they could, and absolutely would. And did. But this wasn’t that universe. 

“Oh nuts! I wasn’t trying to be cruel,” she apologized. “I was just trying to ask… What are y’all waiting for?” 

The knot in Rhett’s stomach loosened as he realized what she was asking.

Link and Rhett looked at each other. 

“We could… do it together?” Link weakly suggested. “All of us? If we get married. Like, if me and Christy wind up getting married, Rhett could...”

“That sounds like a logistical nightmare, hun. Three virgins in one wedding bed? Two might be too many as is!” She winked. “But I’m willing to take that risk.”

Rhett knit his eyebrows together wondering if she wanted what it sounded like she wanted. 

“You don’t have to do it _now_ , obviously. I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to give y’all my blessing or whatever. I don’t even need to be there. Maybe I shouldn’t be there: but it should be you two first, when you’re ready, of course. You loved each other first, it makes sense that you’d consummate it first.”

viii. 

A few weeks later, Rhett was hauling a boatload of Chinese food back to their room. It was a bit of a Friday night tradition. 

He began to unload it from the bag. “Let’s see how many people they think we are this time. Three entrees, four appetizers… Six! Link! They put six freaking fortune cookies in here. I think that’s a record?”

“Three entrees?”

“Yeah. Wait where’s Christy?”

“Visiting her sister.”

“Oh that’s right. I got way too much food then.”

“You really forgot? It’s been kind of all I can think about,” Link said softly. 

“Really?” Rhett looked around. Everything looked cleaner, which meant that Link had been anxious. The lights were dimmer. Things felt intimate. “Oh.”

“No pressure,” Link assured him. “It’s just been on my mind.”

“Mine too,” Rhett confessed. 

“I….” Link’s cheeks flushed pink and he began to babble nervously. “I got some lube. I don’t know or care how you’d wanna or if you wanna—“

Rhett cut him off with a kiss pulling back from it for just long enough to let Link know “I want to feel you inside me.”

Link’s breath hitched with excitement as they moved to the bedroom, the takeout forgotten for the moment. 

They stumbled onto the lower bunk, making out slowly and deliberately. Both stalling a little in anticipation of taking the next step. 

“Should we…?” Rhett asked, and tugged at Link’s shirt. Link nodded and they both stripped down. 

After more kissing and writhing their needy bodies Rhett urged Link to proceed with a gentle “Please?”

Link moved forward with more care than Rhett felt was necessary. And they could talk about that later. But right now he was completely taken with the gentleness that Link handled him with. The feeling of Link moving lovingly inside him. The small sounds, sighs and grunts that they drew from one another. It was raw and real and unpolished. Fumbling their way as they had through so many new experiences in their lives. 

A tear slipped out the corner of Rhett’s eye as he clung to Link’s body, slick with sweat as Link trembled and shuddered and collapsed softly and softening…. 

Yeah, he knew they’d never get married. 

But he also knew, without a trace of doubt, that they’d never be apart. 

ix.

Rhett nearly jumped off the futon, dropping the controller to the floor and pretty much ending his video game when he heard the door open. It was dumb of him not to lock it. Especially with the “romantic” evening he had planned for.. well, himself, later. Basically, a no holds (aside from the obvious) barred jerk off session. He’d been having a lot of those as Link had upped the number of hours he was putting in as an intern at IBM. 

“Is he workin’ again?” Christy asked upon finding Rhett alone in the dorm. 

“Yeah,” Rhett acknowledged. His tone mirroring her disappointment. “Sucks.”

“Well, shoot. I’m sorry for barging in on you like this.”

Rhett snorted and rolled his eyes. “Please. Like you could ever impose around here.”

She remained standing in the doorway. 

“You can still stay, you know? If you want to, anyway. I know I’m no Link Neal. But I’m a pretty good contingency plan?”

Christy sighed and smiled. “You’re no one’s contingency plan, Rhett. And I would be thrilled to hang out with you.”

They ordered pizza and put on a movie that they immediately decided to talk through. 

“So are you as fed up as I am with these hours of his?” Rhett tried not to sound as sulky as he felt, but there was literally no one else he could vent to about this topic. And if anyone was going to understand Link being an absentee boyfriend, it was gonna be his girlfriend. 

“It’s not great. But we can’t go feelin’ sorry for ourselves..”

“I know you’re right, Chris. But it just sucks that right when I was feeling most.. intimate with him? That suddenly he’s got no time.”

“I can see that.”

“Is it weird for me to mention that?”

“It’s not a secret, Rhett. And my idea besides.”

“Oh I had already HAD the idea. Trust me.”

She laughed, and then he laughed. And he realized that he wasn’t faking. She’d made him feel better. There was a fluttering in his chest, and she must have been feeling something too, because she leaned in and kissed him. 

Her small soft hand reached up to caress his closely shorn hair, and his breath hitched as he deepened the kiss. He experimentally leaned her back to lie on the futon, pausing to give her space to nod. He pressed one of his thighs between hers, and she rocked her body against him and moaned into his lips.

She seemed as desperate as he felt as they clawed at each other. But this felt different to Rhett. While it felt right for him and Link to be alone the first time they made love, and that’s not even where Rhett felt like tonight was heading with Christy, he just wanted to make out. Heavily. They had seen one another in some truly delicate positions, only never just them. And they needed their catalyst. At least Rhett did. Just to start. Someday he could imagine being in a place where he and Christy could simply enjoy one another. But he wasn’t there yet. 

“He should be here, shouldn’t he?” She breathed onto his lips. 

“I think so,” his eyes drank her in and she was stunning. Cheeks flushed and with desire, golden hair framing her face. “Gosh, I want you.”

“Me too, Rhett. And not just as a contingency plan.”

They took a few deep breaths, ate a couple slices of pizza, and cuddled up to actually watch the end of the movie. 

He fell asleep with her head resting softly on his shoulder.

x.

Over the winter break, Christy and Rhett we’re finally able to convince Link to not be such a workaholic, and take some time off. His vacation was front loaded with spending time with Christy, because Rhett was going to get a lot of time with him back home in Buies Creek, as well as a snowboarding trip with some of their high school friends. Link and Rhett both spent a few days spoiling Christy with attention before she went home to her family for the holidays. 

Rhett never knew if Christy mentioned anything to Link about the growing fire between them. But Rhett never worked it into conversation himself, and honestly he was somewhat comfortable letting the heat simmer where it was for now. 

The snowboarding trip was challenging for them at times. And they had to be more discreet sharing a cabin with three other guys who did not know the nature of their relationship. 

Rhett was grateful for their unconventional bond with Christy. He could imagine another universe where he didn’t get the opportunity to share in their love, and how painful it would be for the guys to ask Link how it’s going with her. But instead he lived in this world, where he himself never had to ask Link questions or pry for details like that - because he experienced it first hand, bearing witness and participating in one of the most beautiful and honest loves he could conceive of. 

And when they pretended to be running late to meet up for breakfast, or when they went to bed hours before the other guys, Rhett was even more grateful. 

He and Link would steal these moments for themselves. To merge their bodies together, inhaling each other’s sharp breaths and moans, moving together as one, thrumming live wires all day long, finally grounding one another. 

These parts of the day were everything. 

“You’re so good, Rhett.” Link whined, as Rhett hollowed his cheeks and pulled his lips back slowly over Link’s cock leaving it shining and wet before he dove back down to the base, testing his gag reflex on his length. “Fuck, that’s good.”

Rhett bummer and pulled back again, letting his tongue drag along the underside of Link’s shaft, flicking his tongue against the tip as he pulled off. 

“What’s it like when she does it?”

“What?”

“She as good as me?”

“Why you gotta talk about that now?”

“I guess the better question is is she as good as you? Unfortunately for me, I’ll never really get to know how good I am.”

“Well, fuckin same, Rhett. How would I know how good I am?”

“You don’t wanna talk about it when I’ve got your dick in my hand?”

“We don’t have a lot of time to get chatty. Someone could come in here any minute. And I wanna have time to get you back.” Link winked for effect. 

“I’m sorry. It’s been on my mind and I guess I thought I could, I don’t know, make it sexy or something. But later?”

“Later what?”

“I do wanna know. What it’s like with her.”

“What are you really saying to me?” Link stroked Rhett’s face as he asked. 

“Christy and I are thinking of.” Rhett carefully considered his phrasing. “Getting more physical.”

“Heck yes!” Link exclaimed. “I been waiting for this.”

Rhett smiled. “Will you talk about her while I suck you off?” 

Link pushed Rhett’s head back down and moved his hips, really getting into it. “Your mouth is so warm and wet. Just like her when I got my fingers inside her. Her legs are so strong when she wraps her thighs around my head when I taste her. Fuck, Rhett. I’m getting close, just thinking of you two together. So hot. You gonna let me watch, Rhett?”

Rhett didn’t stop sucking on Link, but managed to nod enthusiastically. 

After Link had finished, and Link made good on his intention to return the favor, they lie in bed whispering softly to one another. 

“She want you to fuck her?” Link’s tone was matter of fact. And gentle in spite of the aggressive choice of word. 

“I, uh? We didn’t really discuss much beyond the general idea of “wanting each other”. And wanting you there, if you’re comfortable with that. We both kind of agreed on that. But I don’t know about. What you said. Like. Actual sex.”

“Don’t be stupid Rhett. All sex is “actual sex”.”

“You know what I mean.” 

“I do. And you don’t want that? Or she doesn’t?”

“I said, I don’t know. But it’s not right, is it? You’re gonna marry her probably? And for me to do that first?”

“Listen. Christy and I want to wait for our wedding night. We both decided and kind of enjoy saving that part. It’s kinda torture. And it’s kind of fun.”

“Well, that’s a concept all on its own…”

Link rolled his eyes at Rhett’s attempt to deflect. “I’m just saying, if you both want to, there’s no reason not to. She’s gonna marry me probably, and you still slept with ME first. If you treat her differently…” Link shrugged. 

“Oh my god. Are you telling me I’m being sexist?”

“Virginity is a social construct, man. Whatever we do together. Whatever y’all decided to do together. It doesn’t change what Christy and I eventually do, or make it any less special. And if you’re suggesting that because I’m going to be her husband, I should sleep with her first, well now you’re just treating her like property. And that’s messed up, Rhett.”

It took a moment for Rhett to pick his jaw off the floor. 

Link shut it for him, and kissed the corner of his mouth. 

“Get with the times, honey.”

Rhett remained speechless as Link easily switched topics and began talking about how hard he was gonna hit the slopes the next day. 

Rhett was only distantly listening as he sat in awe at the progressive thinking going on inside that pretty head of Link. And how he could feel his own brain rewiring. Link was actively making him a better person. As he wondered how he got so lucky, he thought he heard Link yammering on about how tomorrow he was gonna to “balls to the wall”.


	2. parts xi-xx

xi.

Rhett’s hands were shaking so bad he was struggling to hold the phone in his hands and could just barely dial the number. 

Christy’s sister answered the phone, and he kept his voice as steady as he could and just hoped he didn’t sound like he felt. Like throwing up. 

“Hello?” 

Her voice was like aloe on a sunburn. Like a mug of hot coffee in frozen hands. He couldn’t believe that he had called her just to ruin her day.

“Chris?”

“Rhett, honey, what’s wrong? What’s happened? Is it Link? Is he okay?”

“The hospital’s not telling me much. But he-” Rhett’s lungs felt like they might suction in and just collapse in on themselves. Like the oxygen was being vacuumed out from them. “-he just. He kept saying the same things over and over. And he couldn’t move much. I just.”

“Rhett. Just tell me where you are.”

He told her the name of the hotel he’d checked into across from the hospital. And she said she could be there in two hours. 

She got there in 90 minutes. 

Rhett has tried to compose himself while she drove, but the second she walked through the door he fell apart all over again. 

He felt like he should be the one comforting her. But she was the one holding his larger frame as his body heaved and shook with sobs. 

“It must have been awful to see him like that, better you than me, I’d be passed out from witnessing him get hurt like that.”

“He just fell so hard. I can’t… I mean, he’s the one that got hurt, but MY life flashed before my eyes. The life that I’m supposed to have with him. And then I also got to thinking dark thoughts like… I would lose you, too, wouldn’t I?”

Christy’s jaw dropped. 

“You think our relationship could survive without Link? Because I worry that you might stay with me for a little while after, but just out of some kind of favor to his memory. And not because…”

“Rhett. How can you think that? That you’re not important to me on your own. That I don’t want you for who you are? That I haven’t been thinking of getting my hands on you the whole drive here, just to feel alive after this brush with…” she couldn’t even say it, and Rhett didn’t blame her or try to finish her sentence for her. 

The phone rang and they both jumped. 

“Who would have this number?” She asked. 

“The hospital…”

Rhett took the phone into the other room and focused on what the nurse was telling him. 

He relayed the message to Christy. 

“He’s stable. He’s got a broken pelvis.”

She winced. 

“But he’s awake. Lucid. Heavily medicated, but…” Rhett shook his head in relief, “he’s gonna be just fine.”

Christy practically jumped into Rhett’s arms. And kissed him harshly and messy. Knocking them both onto the springy hotel bed. 

Rhett was giddy with relief and a thousand other things that he was feeling at the moment. 

“If Link’s just fine, I want you to know that what’s between us is about you and me. I’m not doing anyone any favors. I think you’re a beautiful person, Rhett McLaughlin. I think the three of us are strongest together. But our connection ain’t no weak link!”

“No pun intended?”

She slapped his chest, and for the first time since Link came crashing down into the snow that morning, Rhett laughed. 

“He can have visitors after 5…”

Christy looked at her watch. “That gives us 2 hours, honey.” She unbuttoned her blouse, and stared Rhett in the eyes. “Make me feel alive.”

  
  


xii.

Rhett helped Christy the rest of the way out of her top and flipped her onto the bed. He dragged his fingertips over her high waisted jeans and savored the heat beneath them before he ripped them off of her. 

They were so high on so many emotions: the fear from Link’s injury. The relief that he was okay. The tension and yearning that had been steadily building between the two of them even before all this had led to them being alone in a hotel room. 

He buried his face between her breasts and breathed her in. His hands were greedily all over her soft skin. His mouth easily found one of her nipples and he teased and suckled it, moaning at the way his lips could just sink into her pillowy bosom. 

He loved Link’s lean, hard body and sharp angles. LOVED them. But Christy’s boobs were in a league of their own. 

She began to tear at Rhett’s shirt until he took the cue to get naked alongside her. 

“I wanna feel you cum,” he busked into her ear. 

“Fuck me, Rhett,” she moaned. 

He felt like the stupidest idiot alive as he grit his teeth before shaking his head. “I’m not ready for that.” It was the honest truth. 

“I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s okay, darlin. I’m sorry too, I just… I still wanna do like I said. I wanna feel you cum from my touch. Wanna make you feel so, so good.”

He slid her panties down with delicate reverence, his cock twitching as he saw how wet they were. 

He laid his body back alongside hers, and dipped two fingers into the wetness. The soft sound she made as he slid inside her was music to his ears. 

“I’m a little rusty with women. But I’ve been watching and learning from a very good teacher.”

She giggled and he could feel it from all around her. “You can bet I’m gonna report back how his favorite student did, so bring your A game, McLaughlin.”

He kept his thrusts slow and smooth, like he’d watched Link do. He worked his thumb over her clit. Dragging some of the wetness up to lubricate his thumb movements. 

He listened to the noises she made as he touched her, and moved his fingers inside of her. Taking cues for the moans and ooooooohs and how her body shuddered and sprawled beneath him. 

“Gosh, you’re gorgeous like this.”

“You feel good, Rhett,” she moaned. She somehow knew he needed to hear that. “Can I touch you, too?”

He nodded and helped her in tugging his boxers down enough for her to run her hard along his aching hard cock. 

“Oh wow. You feel real good, Rhett… really fill up my little hand now don’t ya?”

Her hand did feel small. At least compared to the ones he was used to. His own or Link’s. His breath began to break uneven and soon he was panting into her warm, golden hair. Making sure to work his arm, and keep his fingers stimulating her until he could hear the familiar acceleration of her whines. 

It was different somehow now that he was the one making her do that. He began thrusting into her hand. Turned on by her approaching orgasm. 

“Oh Rhett! You’re gonna make me cum. Mmmmmm yes, don’t stop. Don’t stop. Just like that. Yeah. Yeah. Like that, Rhett. Oooooh Rhett. I’m gonna-!” 

And then she went silent and pressed her lips hard into his chest as she came. He could feel her around his thick fingers, squeezing them rhythmically. 

“Please, no,” she pushed at his thumb, guiding them away from her overstimulated clit as she continued to rock against his fingers. Riding out her orgasm as she somehow managed to continue stroking his cock. 

Suddenly she stopped. 

She pushed at him, encouraging him to roll over. She straddled his thighs, the heat of her still moist against his skin. She shocked him by spitting into her hand, and then resumed her work on his dick. He was already so close. Just barely hanging on to get a few more touches as she slid her hand up the shaft, delicately working the sensitive tip in a way that made his breath leave his lungs. She used another hand to massage his balls, and he knew he was done for. He threw his head back against the flat hotel pillows as he groaned his orgasm. 

Completely done. 

Emotionally drained. 

And now physically spent. 

“Unngh fuuuuuuck….” he groaned as his body began to relax. 

“Whenever you’re ready,” she winked. “But this will more than do in the meantime. Now. Let’s get ourselves cleaned up, and get ready to visit our boy!”

  
  


xiii. 

Rhett and Christy visited Link in the hospital so often that the nurses all know who they were, and even brought them extra mattresses for the floor so they could stay the night. 

And it wasn’t suspicious at all that they locked the door at night, because someone necessarily was sleeping right in the path of the door and didn’t want someone bursting in and cracking them in the head. 

This provided them with ample opportunity to explore their evolving dynamic. 

Link was sidelined with his broken pelvis, and relegated to the role of audience member for Rhett and Christy’s little performances. 

And they found it incredibly exciting showing off for Link, driving him wild and while he was unable to do anything to slake his thirst as he watched his lovers get each other off for his enjoyment (as well as, of course, their own). 

Who knew a hospital stay could be so erotic? 

One night, Christy had fallen asleep, and Rhett and Link stayed awake talking. Rhett sitting propped up with his back resting against Link’s bed. Link’s arm dangling over the edge for Rhett to take his hand. 

“What is gonna happen to me, Link?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you and Christy will get married. She’ll have your babies. But like. I know it’s not all about appearances. But how long is this gonna make sense? Me tagging along on your dates. Vacations together? Do you see me moving into y’all‘s house? ”

“You’re not a third wheel, Rhett. You’re a part of this relationship. But we’re also not trying to stop you from living your own life, if that’s what you mean?”

Rhett took a deep breath. 

“My mom set me up on a date.”

“Oh.”

“I was gonna tell you, or tell her no. Or…”

“Rhett, I... Shit, well. We’ve been here before, huh? When I brought Christy in. There was a risk that she wouldn’t be on board. But that worked out.”

“You can say that again…” Rhett could still taste her on his lips. “But it’s easy to forget how different what we have is. How is any outside person is gonna be weirded out by it, don’t you think? And,” he managed to take his voice down to another layer of whisper. “Christy? Does she like girls like that?” 

“Huh… I’m actually not sure.”

“What are the chances everyone agrees to the— terms or whatever. Can get along and be civil. Minimally, just like each other, as in enjoy each other’s company. But ideally, really LIKE each other.”

“Admittedly, chances seem slimmer and slimmer.”

“And what if she doesn’t. This “she” that I’m going on the date with. Or any other potential “she”. It just feels like I’m delaying the inevitable: that I’m going to have to choose between a wife for myself, or what I have with you two.” Rhett’s voice broke. “It doesn’t seem realistic that I can.. win.”

“We thought that when I met Christy, too.”

“Lightning ain’t gonna strike twice, brother.”

“You don’t know that, Rhett. Go on this date. Be optimistic.”

“I’ve already been so lucky. I just feel like the other shoe has got to drop eventually. I can’t lose y’all.”

“You won’t. We should have the rest of this conversation when Christy is awake. But I’m sure we can adjust to you dating. If we need to— cool things down-“

Rhett had to stifle a bark of laughter. “After all this?? I’m in really freakin deep with the both of you!”

“Sh! If we need to cool down for the sake of your dating, we can be flexible and adjust. Never feel upset or uncomfortable for telling me what you need, Rhett. You deserve to be happy. And I’ll be whatever you need me to be to help with that.”

Rhett’s chest tightened with emotion. “I need all of you.”

“And right now, you have it. But you are allowed and expected to change and grow. So just tell me what you need. Okay? We’ll talk more with Christy later.” 

  
  


xiv.

Rhett was a little nervous as he picked Jessie up for their date. He wasn’t completely wrecked though. The worst case scenario was he went back to Christy and Link, tell them he struck out, and let them make him feel all kinds of better. 

He smirked to himself as he imagined it. Even entertained maybe lying to them for just a bit to see where their comforting efforts lead them. 

But his fantasies of lying about lying to them about Jessie evaporated the moment their date began. He was going to have to be honest with them about her. 

Because he liked her. 

He really liked her. 

Which made him immediately consider what role honesty would play in how he talked about Link and Christy. 

He tried reminding himself, it was just a first date. He didn’t need to go spilling his guts just because they had a nice first date. 

But there was absolutely going to be a second one. 

His giddiness at meeting someone new only marginally tainted by the dark cloud lingering out there like a storm at the end of a 10-day forecast where the first nine days are beautiful sunshine: inevitably, he figured he was going to have to choose. 

But not tonight. 

Not after the first date. 

He got home that night and Link was waiting in their room. Trying to act casual. Like he’d just been studying or something. But the room didn’t feel casual. 

“How’d it go?” 

“Uh… Good? She’s… pretty great, actually.”

Link’s expression was unreadable. And Rhett hated the layers of reasons for that. On some level, Rhett was sure they were feeling the same things: simultaneously wanting this experiment to work out, but also wanting it to implode so that they could just go back to their definition of normal. 

Link bit his lip and Rhett’s stomach twisted as he tried to anticipate what he might say next. 

“She… your girlfriend now?”

“That’s probably a little premature. But I’m gonna see her again sometime.”

“Sounds pretty casual.”

“It’s just a first date.”

“Doesn’t sound too… exclusive.”

Rhett found he could no longer form words. He just shook his head, every part of him just wanting to wrap itself around Link, and tell him there was nothing that would ever convince him to exclude him - even as he’d felt, as recently as earlier that evening at dinner with Jessie, that that might be a lie. He just shook his head. 

Link nearly knocked Rhett over as he stood up and crashed into him. Kissing him so hard he thought he might have busted his lip.

He couldn’t imagine Jessie kissing him like that. 

Only Link. 

“Is this still okay? For now?” The yearning in Link’s questioning was almost a whine. 

“Always,” Rhett said with equal parts conviction as part potential lie. 

“Get in my bed,” Link ordered. 

  
  


xv.

Christy opened the door to Link and Rhett’s dorm room slowly, without knocking. It was early Sunday morning and she didn’t want to wake them if they happened to be sleeping. 

She was met with a very specific smell in the room, sex and sweaty boys. 

Rhett appeared to be dead to the world asleep, while Link was wide awake looking vaguely haunted. Not happy enough for the way the room smelled. She figured he should be grinning ear to ear. 

“You’re back early,” Link said by way of greeting. 

“Two days with my parents is more than enough, and I snuck out this morning before they went to church. Or risk getting roped into going with them. Then I came here. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course, girl! We missed you, come over here.”

Christy smirked. “Seems you found ways to distract yourselves from my absence this weekend. You ever think of cracking a window? It’s straight up funky in here, baby.”

She opened the window and sat down on the edge of the bed. Link wrapped an arm around her and tightened it. She felt like a security blanket or child’s teddy bear being squeezed for comfort. 

“Is he all right?”

“He might be walkin a little funny today, but I think he’ll recover.”

She chuckled and nestled an elbow into Link’s chest. “You’re bad…” She took another breath, “I mean, the dating thing. Did it… How’d it go?”

She didn’t realize how nervous she was until she asked the question out loud. 

“It went well.” Link was still unreadable. 

“He likes her?”

“Yeah, it seems so. It’s kinda cute.”

Christy smiled. 

“So this is all okay? Like, with us?” It seemed too easy. 

“Well, for now I guess. I think he wants to see how serious it gets before…. whatever he decides to do. Tell her, or just… change this here arrangement with us.”

Christy’s stomach tightened. Link had said ‘change’, but she knew he meant ‘end’. She wasn’t sure what that would do to Link. 

What it would do to her herself. 

Of course there were very steamy things that she would miss. And ‘opportunities’ she wished they’d had or taken. But it was the smaller things that she was practicing missing. She tried to imagine dialing back the intimacy of their hugs. Not curling up next to him during a movie. He was so huge, and gentle. No one would envelope her quite like Rhett. It wouldn’t be easy sliding back into a friendship role. She had pictured so much of their futures intertwined. 

They’d just have to picture something else. 

She didn’t think there was a world where they’d lose him entirely. They just had to move forward differently, together. 

Link finally spoke again. “I know I encouraged him to find somebody. And that’s still what I want for him, if that’s what he wants. But it just feels so real, like what we have is gonna come to an… I just can’t stop thinking every time could be the last time before my… access gets revoked or whatever. And it sucks, because I’ll never make him choose. This new person is the one that gets to decide all this pretty much. It’s just-“

Christy turned to face Link and kissed him softly until he felt calmed. 

She pulled back, “We can be a lot of things together.” She knew she was telling herself as much as she was telling him. “And it can change as we go. This might feel like a possible step back, but there are still a lot of unknowns. And with any luck, life is a long time, baby. We have our whole lives ahead. And who’s to say that if we have to dial back what we have with Rhett right now, that it can’t change again in the future? We always have each other. And we always have Rhett to, in whatever capacity he needs us. We just have to love him the best way we can.” 

Yep, she was definitely talking mostly to herself…

And now the way that Link was holding her, she felt like the one being comforted. 

  
  


xvi.

Rhett had a decision to make. 

Well, Jessie had a decision to make. 

He supposed they both did. But he was the one that had to kick things off by telling her about options that she’d probably never dream up. 

And he had decided one thing, he had to tell her tonight. Tomorrow he was going off to Slovakia for the summer. And he had a gnawing urge to firm things up between them before he went. 

He wanted her to wait for him. And he knew she would, gladly. He just didn’t think he could ask her to waste a summer of her college years waiting for a guy who wasn’t fully committed to her. Well, that wasn’t right. Because he WAS fully committed to her. But he was also fully committed to a couple other people... And she needed to hear that before he left. 

So she could tell him it was okay. 

Or that it wasn’t okay, and he needed to change things. Or that it wasn’t okay, to the point that things between them were irreparable. 

He could make himself sick thinking of the different ways this conversation could go. 

After dinner he began driving her in the direction of her house. He took a detour though, so he could pull over and they could talk. 

“Everything okay, Rhett?” she asked nervously. Completely intuitive and aware of the tension in the vehicle. 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry if this is weird. I promise I didn’t drive us out here so I could murder you or something.”

“Or like… do you could break up with me?” She asked boldly, but not without a quiver in her voice. 

“Never.” And he really felt that. “I actually would like to make our relationship stronger. But I need to talk to you about something first, and I’m afraid it’ll make you wanna break up with me. I don’t wanna wait until after Slovakia. If you want out, you should get out now while you can still have a nice summer.”

She held his hand. “Okay, you’re officially scaring me. I would love a… stronger relationship. I’m not interested in seeing other guys or whatever. And Slovakia isn’t a big deal. It’s one summer. I can keep myself busy.”

He didn’t know where or how to begin. 

“You don’t think I talk a lot about my friends? Like. More than is normal or whatever?”

She shrugged. “I think it’s sweet that you still have a best friend and all. A lot of guys don’t appreciate the value of friendships like that after high school… it’s one of the things I love about you. Your heart is as big as you are.”

“You’re not… jealous of that relationship?” 

“Of Link? I mean. No. It’s not the same as ours.”

It was now or never. 

“What if it was?”

  
  


xvii.

“What if it was what? Rhett, I don’t… I don’t understand.”

“I’m closer with Link and Christy than you might be thinking.” He couldn’t look her in the eye as he lamely attempted to explain. 

But he could hear the frown in her voice. 

“You said Link was your best friend. And Christy is his girlfriend. You said we should go on double dates and stuff sometime. I… Rhett. What is the relationship here?”

“We never really gave any of it a name. Link IS my best friend. Christy IS his girlfriend. But. We all… have affection for each other? More than friends typically do.”

“You said you wanted to be honest with me. Be honest.”

“We’re more than affectionate. We’re… intimate.”

He could help but notice she hadn’t let go of his hand. 

“I’m not trying to be dumb. I just don’t quite get it. Y’all have… orgies?” 

“That doesn’t feel like the right word to describe it. That’s a wild sex party or something? This is just. Two, sometimes three people who have a lot of love for each other. We’ve never told anyone outside the three of us that it’s… like that.”

“So. Why do you need me?”

Because I love you too, he thought. But he had already laid a lot at her feet. He didn’t know if he should scare her off with confessions of love. It actually seemed like a manipulative time to bring that up. 

“When my mom wanted to set a date up for us, I wasn’t sure I did need you. Or anyone else. But I see things in you that I don’t see with them. You were actually right when you said that what we have isn’t the same. It’s not greater or less than. But it is special. It surprised me how special, to be honest. It’s not really a matter of needing you. It’s become an active choice: I want you in my life. And that is why I can’t sideline this topic any longer.”

“So what does this mean for us?”

“You tell me, Jess.”

“Does continuing to date you mean that I am... dating them, too?” 

“Not necessarily. You’d probably need to at least meet them first.”

“So I could still just date you.”

“Absolutely.” 

“And you would still date them?”

“I feel like. I’m at a point where—“ His heart broke as he made the offer that he prayed she wouldn’t accept. “I would put things on hold with them. Or. I could stop. Being physical, or romantic with them. If that is what you want, in order to be with me.”

“This is a little overwhelming.”

“Yeah.” 

Rhett felt a tear slide down his cheek. And there was Jessie’s cute little finger to catch it. 

“I’m sorry. I can’t make a decision tonight, hun. It’s a lot to think about.”

Rhett cleared his throat. 

“I know… That’s fair.”

“Why don’t we keep things the same for now?”

“The same?”

“I’m gonna take some time for myself while you’re away. To think, reflect, maybe… try to educate myself on some things? But I won’t be pursuing any new relationships in the meantime. And you… don’t change anything yet. With anyone.”

Rhett’s single tear changed into a waterfall of them as he broke down out of relief. 

Jessie took her seat belt off and climbed into Rhett’s lap. Technically she was straddling him. But her embrace was more comforting than seductive. She wiped his tears and kissed the  wet skin beneath. 

“I’m sorry. This is so embarrassing. I thought you were gonna think I’m a pervert or something.”

“I haven’t ruled that possibility out,” she teased. 

“Or that you might… tell my mom?”

She laughed.

He laughed. 

“Rhett, I genuinely don’t know what to do with this information. But I’m not going to betray the trust you put in me by sharing it with me.”

He dropped Jessie off at her house. And drove home without music, windows rolled all the way down. He felt free. He didn’t know what Jessie would decide after a summer to herself. But at least she had all the information.

He pulled into his driveway to find Link’s truck in the driveway. 

He took a deep breath. Jessie had said she loved his big heart, but he didn’t know how much more emotion it could sustain in one evening. 

  
  


xviii.

“Hey,” Rhett acknowledged Link sitting at his family’s dining room table, feeling the full weight of the inadequacy of greeting. But unable to do much more with his mom sitting at the table with him. 

“I haven’t been here too long,” Link assured him. 

“I told Link he might as well wait for you to get home. Since you always get your little girlfriend home at a reasonable hour.” His mom kissed his cheek and said something about him being such a gentleman. 

Rhett wasn’t thinking very gentlemanly thoughts at the moment. 

“It is late,” Rhett remarked. 

Link looked wounded by the implication. “Yeah, sorry. I could… I could leave?”

“That’s not what I meant! I meant. Mama? You don’t have any issue if Link stays the night, do you?”

Technically they were adults. But being college kids and adults occupied an awkward shared space. And although Rhett didn’t always have to ask about every little thing, it was also his parents’ house, so he figured it was good etiquette to get permission. Besides, Link was smiling so brightly there was no way she could say no. 

“Link is always welcome here,” she smiled warmly. “Y’all are gonna miss each other something fierce this summer… Just don’t stay up all night, you got a big travel day tomorrow!”

The second they were behind closed doors, Rhett snatched Link up into his arms. “To say I’m gonna miss you is the understatement of the century.” 

Link burrowed his face into Rhett’s shirt. Likely to hide his tears. Rhett wasn’t about to call him on it. Not after the night he’d had already. 

“I’m gonna ask Christy to marry me.”

“I know.”

“Not like… someday. Soon. This summer.”

“Oh…”

“You’ll be away, so... I just wanted you to know.”

“That’s great, Link. I’m excited for you guys, making things official.” Rhett did mean it, but emotions were complicated and layered. He was happy, excited, anxious, uncertain. And he couldn’t even always pinpoint where the source or target was for each thing he was feeling. But the only emotion he wanted for Link to feel rolling off of him was love. Love and support. 

“Speaking of making things official? How’d your date go?”

“I told her.”

Link’s mouth fell open into a small “o” of surprise. Rhett was surprised too, despite having been there for the whole thing. 

“And…”

“She’s confused. But she’s not mad. She said to keep things how they are until after the summer. Then we’ll revisit if and how things can move forward.”

Rhett watched something unidentifiable flash across Link’s face. 

“So can I kiss you?” Link asked. His voice sounded tight. Like it was about to snap. 

“We can do more than that,” Rhett grinned. 

Link chuckled, but his heart didn’t seem in it. “I just want to be close to you tonight. Before I don’t get to see you for an entire summer. Before I’m engaged to someone that I love, but someone that isn’t you. Before someone else, that I’ve never met, gets to decide if you’re allowed to love me anymore.” 

Rhett shook his head and kissed Link roughly. He took a deep breath as he then gently laid him down onto his bed. He kissed Link’s forehead. His temples. His nose. Lips ghosted over his lips. 

“Link Neal. I am going to love you for as long as I’m alive. Nothing nobody says can change that. It’s woven into the fabric of my being. I can’t promise you what that’s gonna look like. But the core of our love for each other isn’t changing. It’s not going to be easy if Jessie doesn’t want us…” Rhett nipped at Link’s neck, tongue trailing down to his chest. “Doing stuff like this. But I’m still going to be in love with you. And I’m going to support you and Christy. And your family. Link, sometimes I think of all the life we’re building together and I get overwhelmed with gratitude. And as much as I love how you make my body feel… it really is nothing compared to everything else we have going. I wouldn’t choose it. But I would be willing to pull back physically and turn down the heat, if it prevents us from burning the whole dang forest down. This love. It’s bigger than just us fucking.”

Rhett noticed tears leaking from the corners of Link’s eyes. 

Rhett didn’t know if he was happy, hurt, or much like himself: all of the above. 

“Like I said, I wouldn’t choose it. I would love to have my cake and eat it too—“

“In this metaphor,” Link interrupted. “Is my ass the cake?”

Rhett’s eyes widened and Link’s lips spread into a smile. They were all of a sudden both laughing. Both crying.

When Rhett originally started working down Link’s body, he was thinking to give him a blow job that would knock his socks off and make him come so hard he’d never forget it. 

But they both felt like they were not likely to forget a damn thing they’d experienced together. They didn’t need any possible-last hoorah to send their love life off with. 

They were complete. 

So they held each other the whole night through. 

  
  


xix. 

Jessie sat alone in her room singing along to music on the radio. She was thinking about the same thing she’d been thinking about all summer: Rhett McLaughlin. 

He was without a doubt the most interesting person she’d ever met.

He wasn’t an easy person. He challenged her in all kinds of ways. Intellectual conversations, talking about books they’d read. He was always up for a debate. And loved to play devil’s advocate, when Jessie didn’t beat him to it. It was refreshing, invigorating, and fun. She felt like she’d never get bored around him. 

But this whole, group dating, or polygamous relationship concept was the most challenging thing he had thrown at her. 

If she said yes, she felt certain she was going to feel overwhelmed. She didn’t know if she was unselfish enough to not feel competitive for affections. Or jealous when he would spend time with other lovers. She didn’t know if she was a good enough person to be in Rhett’s life. 

If she said no, and stayed with Rhett. She would feel guilty for cutting him off from relationships that were clearly dear to him. And destroying these foundations that preceded her. And odds were, even if he didn’t act on it. And remained behaviorally faithful, he was probably still going to have feelings for them. So what was the point of trying to control and limit his love when he can’t switch it on and off anyway? 

If she said no, and left Rhett entirely. She would miss him. And she might also be missing out on a unique opportunity to experience more love than she had ever imagined. She felt naive and ill-experienced to know what exactly she was imagining, but sometimes when her mind wandered she felt like there was a door in front of her to biggest most beautiful love she could dream up. 

She thought she knew enough about herself to know that she would not be closing that door. 

Practically, she knew she had to at least meet these people that were so important to Rhett. And could become like family, if not closer and more intimate with her. She had only ever seen pictures. Innocent enough group photos and collages with faces she knew belonged to the names.

But she didn’t feel practical or rational right now. She felt lonely. She missed Rhett. She wanted to feel something. If she stopped romanticizing her yearning for a second, she could admit that what she really wanted to be touched 

She and Rhett had taken things slowly. And now she was wishing maybe they had gone a little farther. Her hand slipped down behind the pink bow at the center of her waistband of her pajama pants. She slid her fingers down toward her lips. The had the combination of repressed longing and pride or audacity to actually feel a little surprised that she was already quite wet. 

She teased her fingered in the ample wetness. Exploring outside, feeling the slickness over the surface of her delicate and sensitive skin. 

She imagined they were Rhett’s fingers doing the exploring. Her mind drifted to the pictures in his room. She didn’t know what these other people sounded like, or know their mannerisms or personalities enough to properly picture what they would be like with Rhett. Like, really WITH him. She didn’t even know the details of what they’d done together. 

She wasn’t sure what the realistic portion of her brain was comfortable with. But she didn’t want to be realistic right now. She just wanted to feel good. To take these fictionalized versions of these people that she had a superficial knowledge of, and just imagine the beautiful things they might do to Rhett’s body. She was a little surprised by how… excited… that made her feel. The thought of Rhett being sexual in general. It didn’t particularly matter to her at this moment with whom. 

She slid a finger inside of herself as she pictured Rhett fully laid out on a bed, extended head to toe and being worshipped by Christy and Link. Hands and mouths everywhere. Rhett’s long body squirming under all the attention. 

Her imaginings became more and more lewd as she got herself more worked up. She had two fingers buried deep inside her and wished it was Rhett’s cock. She pictured it being thick and hard as it stretched her wet and wanton pussy. She knew her fingers didn’t do it justice. One wet finger found its way to her clit and she moved the slippery pad of her finger lightly over the sensitive bud. Feeling how her body responded to the stimulation. Clenching around her fingers and spurring her fantasies into erotically adventurous territories she had never considered. She imagined straddling Rhett’s hips and riding his cock she imagined the blonde from Rhett’s pictures sitting on his face, and Jessie flicked her fingers over her own clit as she imagined how Rhett would flick his tongue over Christy’s. Jessie felt herself getting close as she l herself. Her mouth hung open as she pictured Christy’s mouth open for Link’s dick to slide into. And that was what did it. What pushed her over the edge. 

She pulsed around her fingers, biting down on her lip. Stifling her moans. 

As she caught her breath and reality crept back in, she suddenly felt very guilty and dirty for having these obscene thoughts about these strangers. 

She didn’t even consciously lust after them. But she also couldn’t get over the idea of Rhett being with them in anything even close to that configuration. 

She didn’t know if she actually wanted it, or would be able to go through with it in reality. But it had genuinely surprised her how not unopposed she was to it even in concept. 

She had made her decision, or at least the beginnings of one. She was going to stay with Rhett. And so were Link and Christy, if they all still chose to. She had decided it was not her place to displace the existing arrangement among these strangers. And that when Rhett returned stateside, she didn’t want them to be strangers anymore. 

Maybe not as far as lovers, as she had enjoyed fantasizing over. But definitely not strangers. 

Damn you, Rhett McLaughlin. She thought with a smile on her face as she picked out a soft, clean pair of pajama pants. 

You’ve challenged me again…

  
  


xx.

Rhett was so giddy and nervous and all kinds of emotions all nodded up upon arriving back home. He didn’t know what he should do first. See Jessie? See Link and Christy? Ultimately he decided a lot of his twitchy nerves was just jet lag and he took a nap. 

He didn’t feel much more rested or clear headed upon waking, in fact he felt downright groggy. 

He decided that he should talk to Jessie first. He knew deep down he was putting that off. Not because he didn’t want to see her, but because he was afraid of what she might say. If she was gonna ask him to dial things back with the others, whether permanently or temporarily, he was tempted to visit them first. But he felt kinda shitty even thinking that way. Like getting one last drink before going to rehab. It wasn’t really in the spirit of what he was trying to do. 

It was a nice day, so Rhett and Jessie were able to meet up at an outdoor cafe. 

She excitedly asked him all about his trip. He didn’t think that he’d have the patience to talk about other things when there was one looming topic he’d been desperate to get to. But she asked so sincerely. And her excitement and enthusiasm for his tales felt so genuine. It was like he was truly reliving it, and she was there with him. She had a way of making him feel like the most important person in the world when she was talking to him. 

Which was important for Rhett. For all the confidence and cockiness that he projected, it was often largely hollow and an empty hope that people were buying it and would agree with and support the self-assured mask he wore. It was different with her. She wasn’t just looking at his hollow shell and believing, she was filling him up and making him whole and solid. He didn’t feel like he was faking anything around her. She had a gift for loving people, and boy did Rhett need that. 

He knew then and there that whatever she decided, it was gonna work. 

As long as she didn’t decide to take her loving gifts away. 

They had finished their food, and grabbed some coffees to go. And proceeded to walk through the park. 

“I know you have to be wondering my thoughts on what we discussed before you left.”

“Uh. Yeah,” Rhett chuckled at the understated segue. “You could say that.”

“Well, before you shared that part of your life with me, if you had asked me how we could improve our relationship or connection… I would have been stumped. I’m really happy, Rhett. I think we’re good together. I think our opposites and similarities all align in the most comfortable and strong ways. I learn from you, I have fun with you, and I have never felt anything less than loved by you.”

“I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming,” Rhett said nervously, bracing for the other shoe to drop. 

“There isn’t though.” She said this part with flourish, like a magician presenting a magic trick. Like a comedian landing a punchline. “I’m happy. You’re a good boyfriend, Rhett. I see a future together. And I’m not sure that what you have told me changes that? Like. It was already happening. And I was happy. If it continues to happen, the only difference now is that I’m not in the dark. You don’t have to hide from me or lie or omit. It seems like open and honest communication would only make our relationship stronger.”

Rhett’s heart began to beat faster. His brain could barely keep up processing what he was pretty sure she was saying. 

“I don’t have all the answers, hun. Life is too big and beautifully unpredictable to claim that. But to oversimplify, I’m thinking: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Rhett was grinning ear to ear by now. 

“We are going to have to figure a lot of stuff out together. I want to meet them, if everyone can agree on that part. But as friends, not as like… I dunno-“

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. They’re gonna wanna meet you too!”

“I’m not saying I’m entering a relationship with them. I mean, I am… of sorts. But I just want to know them, Rhett. They’re so important to you. So they’re gonna be important to me. On some level. And even though I’m not in on… well, you know… some of that stuff with yall. I don’t want you hiding from me. I reserve the right to change my mind. But I want you to be able to share openly with me. Unless it’s something that violates some kind of confidence of intimacy or something with your other partners. But I don’t want it to be an open secret. I just want it to be... open.”

Rhett was tired of ending all their dates in tears. He wasn’t even a crying type of person. But this was overwhelmingly good news. Better than he’d ever dared to hope for. 

“You are unreal, Jess. Like, the capacity of your brain and your heart to adapt and wrap themselves around this concept that must have been…. really complicated for you. And you are just naturally the embodiment of... unselfish love.”

“Love should never feel selfish,” she smiled. And then laughed, “Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind on any and all of it! Because, this is new territory for me. How I think I feel and how I am gonna feel once I’m living my thoughts out loud…?”

“Of course, of course. Just. Kiss me?”

“Get down here, you.” She grinned as he met her lips for a kiss. 


	3. parts xxi - xxx

xxi.

Christy arrived at Rhett and Link’s dorm the moment they were moved back in after summer vacation had ended. 

He and Link had only gotten back to campus a couple hours ago. And they were both itching to see her again. Link had seen her on and off over the summer. Obviously, had to do in order to propose. But Rhett hadn’t seen her since before his trip. 

“You know, I have to hear my friends complain all the time about having to work around their boyfriends’ schedules, and it’s just real nice not having to fuss over whether or not my fiancé’s roommate is gonna be home or not..”

Rhett could tell she was just using the opportunity to show off the new title. And Rhett was more than happy to take the bait. 

“Lemme see the ring!” 

Christy grinned from ear to ear as she wiggled her fingers in front of Rhett. 

“Congratulations, darlin,” Rhett said, feeling his cheeks burning with the sincerity of his excitement for them. He took her hand and tugged her in close to him. Her soft body pressed up against his. Her hair smelled like fresh air and summer skies. Gosh, he’d missed her. 

She pressed up onto her toes to search out a kiss that he was happy to help her out with. 

He hummed happily against his lips and couldn’t keep from moaning a little as she eased her tongue past his lips. 

He buried a hand in her golden hair and supported her head as he tilted her face back to deepen their embrace. He felt her legs part across his thigh as they stood and the heat of her against his leg after all this time apart was enough to make him wanna scoop her up and carry her into the bedroom. 

They were supposed to be having a nice dinner date together to celebrate the engagement. But for once, food was not at the forefront of his mind. 

Link walked in from grabbing ice for their contraband champagne that they had planned to toast with over their “fine dining” of bojangles. 

“What the crap? Y’all startin’ without me?”

“Oh whatever! Y’all been havin’ sleepovers and stuff back home, and meanwhile I haven’t seen Rhett since school got out! Nevermind the part where we thought…”

Whatever it was they’d thought, she seemed to think better of saying right now. And kind of embarrassed to bring it up. 

“Not that you can’t still choose at any time to not… you know.”

“And if I do, you can still choose to be upset by it.” He kissed her forehead. “You don’t have to hide how you feel about anything. In fact, the only way this is gonna go well as things get more… I don’t wanna say complicated, but… complex? Is if we tell each other how we feel.”

“Dang,” Link interjected after a moment of quiet among them. “Things sure went from horny to heavy real quick!”

That loosened things up a little. 

Link poured the champagne, and they all raised their plastic cups. 

“To my favorite couple,” Rhett toasted. “And their engagement! I am so freakin happy for y’all.”

Rhett had barely swallowed his bubbles before Christy was kissing him. 

  
  


xxii.

Christy seemed to melt into Rhett as she kissed him. Rhett’s heart pounded against his chest, and his cock was responding in a way that made him feel almost too eager. But he needed so very many things right now. He could smell Link before he saw him. He had nestled himself in behind Christy. Kissing on her neck, as she stretched it up to kiss Rhett. 

Christy moaned into Rhett’s lips and then sank back against Link’s chest. 

Link wrapped his arms around her, and held her tightly. “I could just hold you here, and let Rhett show you every part of you that he missed?” 

Rhett’s eyes roamed over her, and his brain buzzed with imagining where he might start. 

“I have something else in mind…” Christy said, almost shyly. Which really had Rhett’s attention. Christy usually wasn’t timid about what she wanted. 

“Tell us what you want,” Link cooed in her ear. 

“I want Rhett’s mouth on me,” she said, and Link smiled. “And,” she added. “I wanna watch you fucking him while he does it.”

Rhett’s eyes went wide as Link’s mouth split open with his widening grin. 

“Rhett?” Link asked. “This sounds like a lot of… concentration? On your part.”

Rhett was already pulling his shirt off, enthusiasm evident. “I think I can manage.”

Link lifted Christy’s shirt off as Rhett began to undo her pants and slide them off, simultaneously undressing her from opposite ends. Link’s hands roamed lightly over her bare chest, and she sighed as he lingered over her nipples. 

Rhett sank to his knees as he slid her panties down, she was already wet, which if he hadn’t already been half hard in his pants, would have been enough to do it. He massaged her thighs mouth not quite where he knew she wanted it. He looked up from his kneeling position to watch Link’s hands caressing her body as she craned her neck back to kiss him. 

Rhett couldn’t help imagining what the two of them would look like on their wedding night. And it made his cock twitch to picture them. They were gonna be so beautiful when they finally stopped playing this little game of “waiting”. He couldn’t resist stroking himself a coupe times as he leaned in to taste her with little licks that made her moan into Link’s kisses, and arch her back. Rhett also felt her knees begin to tremble which was incredibly hot, but could become an issue as they were just getting started. 

“Why don’t you sit on the edge of the bed for me?” Rhett suggested. 

Link helped sit her down, and gave her one last kiss on her pouty mouth, and down her neck to nip at each of her nipples, eliciting the smallest and cutest squeaks of yelps that Rhett had ever heard. 

Link then moved to position himself behind Rhett. And Rhett could feel the contrasting sensations of Link’s sharp teeth and soft lips on his back as Link gently guided Rhett to a kneeling position in front of Christy.

  
  


xxiii.

Rhett knelt in front of Christy’s spread legs, and he could practically feel the heat coming off her. It paired nicely with Link’s hot breath on the back of his neck. 

Link’s hands slid down his back to settle onto his hips, raising them up until instead of kneeling Rhett was positioned on all fours. 

Rhett spread his knees apart automatically, accustomed to how he needed to lower himself in order to grant Link the access that they all craved. 

Rhett focused his attention forward when he felt Christy’s gently hand softly caress his face. 

He’d told Link he could handle this, and he wanted to be right. 

He parted her legs a little wider, and teased her with some alternate hot and cold breaths and bursts of air that made her shiver and moan. He teased her lower lips with his fingertips and she whined for him in a low and honeyed voice. So thick and sweet. 

Then it was Rhett’s turn to gasp with anticipation as he felt Link spread his cheeks and swipe at him with his tongue. Rhett pressed his fingers slowly and deeply into Christy. Simulating the way that he longed for Link to finger him. He stuck his ass back toward Link, subtly wiggling it for more attention. 

Rhett flinched as he felt Link’s warm tongue replaced with cold lube and thick fingers. 

Rhett was up to his knuckle of his hand into Christy, and he lowered his lips to suckle at her clit as he worked his fingers inside her. 

He removed his fingers to see how nice and pink and open she was for him. 

“So beautiful…” he murmured. Making sure that she’d hear him before he went back to more important things to occupy his tongue than talking. 

“You’re so good to me, Rhett. You gonna let Link be real good to you?”

Rhett nodded his head vigorously, not removing his mouth from her pussy. 

“You ready, babe?” Link asked, and Rhett didn’t have to wonder as he knew the pet name was directed at him. 

He hummed audibly for Link, and felt how Christy’s body responded to the vibration. 

Rhett felt the dull pressure of Link pressing himself to his slicked up hole. And the ache and stretch as he began to ease himself inside. 

Rhett had to stop to catch his breath as Link slowly opened him from the inside out. By the time Rhett realized how hard he was gripping Christy’s thighs, he was sure he’d left fingerprint bruises. Though she didn’t seem to mind. She looked drunk on the sight of them, sticking her finger into Rhett’s hung open mouth. 

Rhett gladly sucked on it for her as he got used to the feeling of having Link inside him again. Fuck, he was big. 

Link eased Rhett’s head back down between Christy’s legs, and instructed him, “Make her happy for me, Rhett.”

Rhett had no objections as he resumed his skillful tonguing of her. 

But then Link began to move. Working his cock in and out of him, rocking his hips up against him. Using the momentum to drive Rhett’s face into Christy. Rhett glanced up to see the way Christy was looking at Link as Rhett ate her pussy. 

She loved watching Link work. She reached her hands down to hold Rhett’s head against her as she ground her clif against his face. Rhett slid a finger inside her to coax her closer to climax. 

Christy massaged her breasts as she rocked against Rhett’s face. “God, y’all look good together. How’s he feel?”

“So good,” Link huffed. “I’m getting close. Chris?”

“I’m close too,” Christy assured him. “Rhett, honey. You’re such a good toy for us, if you’re not there yet, one of us will suck you off for you when we’re done?”

Rhett bucked against Link’s dick and lapped frantically at Christy’s clit as he thrust his fingers inside of her sopping wet pussy. She came easily after that, and she hadn’t even fully come down before Link pulled Rhett upright and clasped arms possessively across Rhett’s chest, hips snapping up into him and gnawing on Rhett’s scapula in a way that was sure to leave marks. 

Link jerked Rhett off as he finished inside of him. Sure to watch his come slowly slide out of Rhett and run slowly down his long lean thighs. 

Christy got Rhett a towel and some sweatpants, and sweetly checked in with him. “You know you’re not really just a toy to us, right? We care about you deeply, and-“

Rhett smiled. “I know.”

“I thought so, I just had to check in. I felt like we got carried away.”

“Baby girl,” Rhett smiled. “Either of you are welcome to carry me anywhere you want. Preferably both.”

  
  


xxiv. 

Jessie had never been so nervous getting ready for a date. Rhett had asked her if she wanted to go out somewhere or just stay in to meet everyone, but Jessie had opted to go out, hoping that an activity - even just eating or grabbing coffee might provide more natural icebreakers and ease any inevitable awkwardness of their unique situation. 

She always wanted to look good. For herself. For Rhett. But as she fixed her makeup and checked her hair for the thousandth time she wondered who else she might be trying to impress. 

Rhett had tried to paint a picture of a low pressure, casual relationship. She wasn’t expected to be their girlfriend as well. But they were so incredibly dear to Rhett that she struggled to not form a deeper level of attachment even before meeting up in person. 

And that made her nervous, because it set her up for rejection. Link and Christy were bound to be protective of Rhett. What if they didn’t think she was good enough for him. 

What if she wasn’t?

She took one last look in the mirror before heading out to meet the others, equipping herself with a put on smile and two important instincts: to let her love be stronger than her fear or discomfort; and to just fact it till she made it. 

She arrived at the coffee shop to find Rhett sat at a booth with two people familiar to her only through pictures. 

A new round of nerves overtook her that she combated by smiling harder. She relaxed a little as Rhett stood up and moved to greet her with a comforting hug. 

“Don’t be nervous.”

“Who’s nervous?” She asked, trying to cover her anxiousness with sass. 

“We’re just hanging out,” he reminded her. 

“I can handle this, sugar,” she assured him, and herself. 

“Link and Christy?” Jessie greeted them. 

“It’s so nice to meet you, Jessie,” Christy said brightly. 

“Yeah, it’s about time Rhett stopped keeping you all to himself!” Link smiled. “Wait,” he added quickly. “I didn’t mean… like that he’s sharing you with us now?”

“Link!” Rhett scolded. 

“It’s okay,” Jessie said quickly sliding into the booth next to Rhett. “I didn’t take it in any kinda way. I think we all just need to relax a little.”

Everyone kind of nodded and took the moment to breathe and decide what they were going to eat and drink. 

Once the coffees and sandwiches arrived, Christy broke the not entirely uncomfortable silence. 

“This is nice, you know? Sometimes when the three of us go out we can tell that people are trying to figure out like… Who’s with who. Or who the third wheel is or whatever. This feels… balanced. It’s just nice.” 

She reached a hand across the table to place it softly over Jessie’s. It didn’t feel weird, or forward or romantic or anything. It felt like family. With someone that she had just met. Willing to love her so openly, because of the love that they shared for someone else. 

Love expanding and encompassing, as opposed to closing off and excluding.

It wasn’t the way she was taught to love.

But she had a gut feeling, or a heart feeling, that maybe it should be.

  
  


xxv. 

Over the months the four of them developed ways of making their unique relationship work. They all became very good at keeping calendars, were considerate of each other’s time and respected all forms of date nights. 

At first Jessie felt a little bit like an outsider. And Rhett could understand that. Although he and Link had been together first, he had felt a little on the outside when Christy and Link first got together. So he knew what it was like to feel like you were on the outside of a couple, or throuple in this case. And he also related to Link and Christy and their experience with the addition of Jessie. Sure, they liked her. But it was only natural to be at least low level anxious about the possibility that she would be in some way taking Rhett away from them. He had felt that way about Christy in the beginning. Not consciously, but in hindsight after experiencing the range of his emotions on the subject, he could admit that in those early stages he had been afraid. Jealous even. He was not immune to that. Though he had learned to process those feelings differently, and in his mind a more healthy way. And grown to give Link’s love with Christy space, appreciation, respect and admiration. He’d grown to love their love. And realize that it didn’t diminish his own love with Link. Or the blossoming of his relationship with Christy. 

He had seen seeds of hope for things with Jessie to work out the same way, and overtime he was rewarded with watching how love budded, bloomed and grew. 

Jessie hadn’t made any romantic or sexual connections with Rhett’s other partners. But the platonic love was off the charts. Rhett believed that was just how Jessie’s heart operated. And he couldn’t imagine her in a relationship with her capacity to love in any form was restricted. She had the most boundless heart he’d ever encountered and it warmed him to watch her thrive in their relationship. 

One night after they’d made love (not taking on the same “wait until marriage” challenge that Link and Christy had chosen), he asked her. 

“It’s a forgone conclusion that you’re coming to their wedding with me, right?”

“Link and Christy’s? I had assumed so. Why do you ask?”

“Just checking. No reason.”

“Are you nervous about it?”

“Why would I be nervous?”

“I didn’t know if you’d feel left out in any way.”

“Them changing their relationship isn’t going to change what I have with either of them. I guess anything could happen, and I accept that. But that’s not the plan.”

“They’re also going to... consummate the thing.”

Rhett’s grin felt like answer enough to that. 

“You are genuinely looking forward to it.” She wasn’t asking. Simply observing. 

“Why haven’t you and Christy slept together?”

“Because I’m sexist. Apparently. What is this, twenty questions? We just had a beautiful moment together.”

“You’re the one that brought up the wedding!” She reminded him, a playful glint in her eye. 

“I know you’re just checking in on me emotionally. But I promise that what I’m feeling isn’t jealousy. Link and I have never planned to build a family together. We see a future together, and plan to share our lives together. I think we have potential between us to create something big and meaningful. But the house and kids and stuff. That’s not what we have in mind with each other.”

Jessie looked like she wanted to ask something more but was holding back. Probably due to  his twenty questions quip. 

“Yes, darlin.” He was happy to answer her unasked question. “I see that stuff with  _ you _ .”

  
  


xxvi.

Link thought he was going to throw up. He didn’t know how people went through with weddings that they weren’t 100% invested in and enthused with. He had zero doubts about his marriage or his life with Christy, and he still felt nervous as heck. He wasn’t good at giving speeches. He wasn’t great in front of a crowd, at least not as himself. He and Rhett had done some sketch work and performed some comedic songs in their community, but all of that felt like a character, this was going to be just ‘Link Neal - As Himself’. 

Plus in performances, Rhett was standing with him. 

It would have been the most comforting thing in the world to have Rhett standing up with him at his wedding, holding one of his hands as Christy held the other? 

Nah, that woulda been stupid. And that’s why they weren’t doing it. They’d already all agreed to have a separate celebration with the four of them, to process this very huge and very public life event. 

But Link wasn’t worried about the four of them. They were secure. And his partnership with Christy was secure. 

He was just lamenting the stupid tradition of having a large wedding, and being isolated in that small room that felt like a holding cell as he awaited the “getting over with” of all the formalities and just started living his happily ever after. When the door suddenly opened. Link’s heart leapt with hope that it was Rhett come to calm him down, somehow intuitively knowing that he would be needing him right now. He was met with disappointment as he heard his voice in unison with a softer and higher one inquiring the same as him, “Rhett?”

“No,” Jessie’s voice answered. “I was actually looking for him too. I was thinking he might be here with you. I already feel kind of lost not knowing y’all’s families as well as it seems anyone else here does. I swear I don’t even know where to sit without Rhett.”

Link smiled, her presence naturally warm and calming, even in her apparent disarray. 

“I don’t think you can really go wrong. Everyone’s pretty nice. Rhett probably just needed a moment or something. Or someone’s asked him to do something. I know he wouldn’t abandon you to strangers.”

“Well, I’m not really thinking of them as strangers, now am I?”

Her cheeks turned the most beautiful shade of pink. 

“I hope not.”

“They’re gonna be like my family too, I reckon.”

“I hope so.”

“I’m sorry,” she said suddenly embarrassed. “Were you trying to have a moment to yourself, too?”

“That’s actually the last thing I was wanting.” Link surprised himself by reaching out and taking Jessie’s hand. It had been over 6 months, not quite a year that Rhett and Jessie had been together. Link had a lot of affection for the couple. But he and Jessie had never been more than friendly. It wasn’t something they wanted to feel forced or obligated about. But at this moment it was the most natural thing in the world to seek physical comfort in her. 

“Are you nervous? You better not be getting cold feet, Link Neal,” she teased. 

“Not a chance.”

“Good. I may be small, but I will not hesitate to take off these ridiculous shoes and whoop you with them if you think about hurting Christy.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Though I would like to see you try that.”

Jessie rolled her eyes and moved in toward his touch. 

“I’m not nervous to marry Christy. I’m nervous to make a jackass out of myself in front of this crowd. I’ve gotta say lines, give speeches.”

“You’re a natural performer, hun. Besides, you don’t have to win anyone over today, everyone here already loves you dearly.”

Link met her eyes and told her, “That’s good to hear. I love…  _ everyone here  _ dearly as well.”

Their lips slowly met, and as his blood rushed with the endorphins of the kiss, in its wake a feeling of calm flowed throughout him. He felt at ease, and while, and ready to face the rest of the day. 

He married one of the great loves of his life. 

He did make a bit of a fool of himself during the speech. 

But it didn’t matter. 

Everyone loved him anyway. 

  
  


xxvii.

“Rhett?” Jessie whispered as they lay in the bed of their hotel room after the reception. 

“Hm?” He hummed sleepily. 

“I think I… have feelings for Link.”

Rhett just smiled. 

“I don’t really know what to do next,” she explained 

“Are these feelings you want to act on?”

“It’s like I said, I don’t really know.”

“You could ask him out on a date?”

Jessie seemed nervous. 

“Are you afraid he’ll say no?”

“I kissed him, Rhett.”

“Oh. Well, I guess you know what to do more than you’re letting on.”

“This still doesn’t feel quite natural. I’m not judging it. I just, I feel guilty. I kissed someone else, and on his wedding day. What’s wrong with me?”

“It felt wrong?”

She was quiet as she thought. 

“No, it didn’t feel wrong. I think I’m putting that on myself.”

Rhett smiled, and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “You could practice if you’re not ready to make another move.”

“What do you mean practice?”

“Practice, you know, lusting after my boyfriend!”

She slapped him and giggled shyly. “Putting it that way doesn’t make me feel better about what I did. Now I feel like I was somehow cheating on you in two different ways!”

“It’s not cheating, Jess.”

“I think I should have talked to you first. Not acted on impulse and told you later. But it did feel different with Link. It wasn’t like kissing you, obviously. But it wasn’t like kissing somebody else either. It was, like, an extension of you.”

“Now you’re thinking about his extension already?”

“Rhett, be serious for a minute.”

“I was serious, too. Practice by telling me what you like about him. How you want him. Ask me what it’s like being with him. It’s all relatable content. And I bet it’ll turn you on, too.”

“I can see that even the thought of this is starting to turn you on.” She nodded towards his not so subtly tented dress pants. She turned her back toward Rhett and he admired the perfect sculpt of her back and shoulders as they elegantly tapered toward her waist. “Why don’t you unzip me so I can get outta this dress and we can tell each other what’s on our minds?”

  
  


xxviii.

Link was just stepping out of the shower. It had been a long and fulfilling day of cleaning, organizing, and fixing up their modest new home together. Their first shared space as newlyweds. He walked into the bedroom with the towel just barely hanging onto his hips. 

Christy smiled at the sight of him appearing behind her in the mirror, as she was removing her makeup and brushing her hair for the night. 

“Feel refreshed?” She asked. 

“Like a new man.”

“Hmm. I liked the one I had. But I’m open to new things?”

“Oh I bet you are,” he growled playfully, dropping the towel and wrapping his arms around her from behind. 

He lifted her up out of the chair and scooped her up into his arms and tossed her squealing onto the bed. 

“Have you always been this horny all the time or is this a honeymoon period type of thing?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

“I mean, I’m not complaining. But dang! When you and Rhett were roommates, how’d y’all even get any work done?”

“You need a break, sweet thang?” He nuzzled her ear, nipping at the lobe and being rewarded with a sweet little moan.

“Link Neal. If you don’t quit teasin’ and get between my legs right this minute!”

“Yes, ma’am, Mrs Neal.”

“Link?”

“Yes?” He husked, eyes full of lust. 

“Go easy on me, baby. We’ve been doing this a lot, and well-“

“I didn’t hurt you?”

“Naw baby, just getting a little tender.”

“We can give things a rest.”

“I still want you, believe you me. Just go slow?”

Link’s eyes didn’t leave her as he slinked down her naked body. He was happy to find that she was already nice and wet for him. She wasn’t just being nice saying she wanted him. 

His own heart raced with excitement as he touched his tongue to her lower lips. He used slow, soft strokes of his tongue to get her body ready for him. He couldn’t keep his hands off her soft round hips as he tasted her. 

She lifted her hips gently, spreading her legs as wide as possible, fully welcoming her husband inside. 

He worked his tongue softly about her clit. Slowly caressing it rather than flicking it as he would if he wanted to get her writhing and thrashing on the bed. But his slow and deliberate movements built her orgasm from a whole different foundation. 

Her moans were deeper and thicker and she came with a silent scream and then breathless begging for his cock. She was still feeling the aftershocks of her orgasm as she was pulling him back up her arching and shuddering body. 

Link kept it slow and gentle as he sank into her like a knife into butter. He simply melted into her, she was so hot and ready. 

“Fuuuuuck.” He sighed. He still wasn’t over how good that felt. But he controlled his thrusts, slowly driving her wild with his patient hip movements. 

The sex was almost lazy it was so slow. But the motions were so deliberate and active. Christy’s eyes were rolling back into her head in no time. She was groping at her own breasts, holding them up for Link’s drooling mouth to get his face on. 

After she came a second time, Link pulled out slowly in hungry awe at the wet blend of their sexes slickly coating and dripping from his spent cock. 

“You’re thinkin something nasty.” She suggested wickedly. 

“You must be too if you’re saying that!”

“I’ll just say that you’re missing Rhett.”

“He would lick it clean, wouldn’t he?”

She sighed contentedly. “He always is very good to us.”

“Yeah, he is. And I do miss him. It’s been a week? Two?” 

It wasn’t a terribly long time, but they were used to rooming together. So living separately was a struggle. Plus Rhett was trying to give the newlyweds some privacy. Despite them telling him several times that he didn’t count as public. And that they didn’t want or need space from him. 

“And Jessie?”

“Sure. Her too.”

“Y’all have been real flirty. Anything happening there?”

“If so, you’d know.”

“Seems like somethin’s on your mind, sugar,” she insisted. 

He took a deep breath, and shook his head. “She’s sweet.”

“Don’t you dare patronize her.”

“I’m not! I’m hopeful. I just hope that- I don’t know, Nevermind.”

“No, I think I’d like to hear.”

“The good news is that I don’t think Rhett is sexist.”

Christy looked taken aback. 

“I used to think that he didn’t give a damn about my virginity, or his own, but he put yours on a pedestal, and that’s why he wouldn’t… go all the way with you. But now I think I am understanding it differently.”

“Interesting…”

“I think he was afraid of getting that close, and that attached to you before you and I made things as official as they can get. With vows of marriage and all. He’s trusting us to stay together.”

“I don’t know if I completely follow. But I’m tryin.”

“If he slept with you,” he gently kissed her nose. “When he sleeps with you. He’s going to feel more bonded to you. I know rationally that shouldn’t be different or more special than the, uh… sex play… that we already engage in? But it is different for him. I know, because I believe our heads are wired the same way. So when he shares that experience with you. He needs to trust that he’s not gonna lose you.”

“Because if you and I broke up..?”

“You tell me, Chris. Anything happened between me and you, you still gonna date Rhett?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I could. It would be too familiar, too close to… well, you.”

They were quiet for a moment while their brains competed the logic that Link hesitated to speak out loud. 

“But he could sleep with you, because if we broke up, you two would still be together. You’ll always be together. Foundation’s more firm.”

“I don’t agree with how that sounds,” Link mumbled. 

“But it’s the truth.” Her voice was kind of flat, she didn’t sound hurt. She said it like it was a fact, free from emotion. 

“I love you, Christy.”

“Link. I know that, sweetie. It ain’t a competition.”

“That’s right.”

“But is that why you are afraid to get closer to Jessie?”

“Yeah, something like that. And I know that they’re havin sex and all, and I know he plans to marry her, and that’s all fine. I just feel like I wanna see some kind of proposal or something to make sure she’s not going anywhere or whatever. And I don’t do good with— abandonment.”

Christy pet his hair and he closed his eyes, calming his mind. “I know, baby. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just thought I saw something there, like a spark between you two, and wanted to check in.”

“You’ll always be first to know.”

  
  


xxix.

Christy and Jessie were giddy with the excitement of seeing one another after having spent so much time apart. Jessie nearly tossed the pie she’d brought over in her hurry to hug Christy. 

“I can’t wait to hear about everything from the honeymoon!” She turned bright pink when she realized what she’d said. “I mean the trip… not the… oh, whatever! Girl, you know what I mean!” 

Christy’s laugh was down to earth, sincere and… contagious. Jessie found herself giggling along with her as she , and it was and Christy took the pie from her guest and urged Jessie and Rhett to actually come in. “Lemme give you the grand tour of our humble abode.”

“Humble schmumble! It’s your first home! It’s amazing that y’all have your own space together.”

Finally they realized that neither Rhett or Link had spoken. 

“Have y’all gone catatonic with the thrill of seein each other after this long?” Christy asked. Only partially teasing. 

“Oh my goodness. Will y’all just kiss each other already?” 

They didn’t need to be told twice and they came together like there had been invisible restraints holding them back. And those restraints had finally snapped. They were drawn together with undeniable and irreversible energy bringing their bodies together. Mouths crashing together. Hungrily devouring. 

“Rhett, honey?” Jessie drew her boyfriend back from  _ his _ boyfriend. She glanced over toward Christy, getting a nod from her before continuing, “Why don’t you two head into the guest room? Christy and I have plenty to catch up on.” 

There were several exchanges of eye contact and sincere nods before the boys disappeared into the guest room. 

Off the other side of the kitchen from the bedrooms was the living room, and Christy had set everything up for a movie night. The lighting was perfect. There was popcorn and candy on the coffee table. 

“I can grab us a couple of cokes from the fridge? Or I have white wine in there as well. But I know you’re a little younger, so I didn’t wanna…?”

“Um. I’ll have that small glass of wine if you feel okay about that?”

“Sure. Go ahead and have a seat, and I’ll come back with our drinks.”

Jessie wasn’t sure where to sit. Should she sit somewhere Christy would be able to sit next to her? Was this supposed to be romantic? Was she herself feeling... romantic? She wasn’t feeling sexual at all... But she wouldn’t mind cuddling with Christy during the movie. But she didn’t want to make Christy feel uncomfortable. Or obligated. 

She settled for wedging herself comfortably onto the floor between the coffee table and the sofa. That made sense. It was the easiest way to reach the snacks. 

She shifted in her seated position and propped her elbow up on the sofa cushion, leaning her cheek against her palm. 

“Well don’t you look cozy,” Christy remarked, sitting herself down on the sofa, and handing Jessie her glass before starting the movie. 

Jessie was tempted to rest her head on Christy’s lap with how close she was. 

“Can I play with your hair?” Christy asked shyly. 

Jessie nodded and gave into her earlier impulse, and finally felt the connection that she needed to ask the question that had been on her mind since before they’d arrived. Knowing that the plan was for the guys to have some alone time to reconnect.

“Do you wish you were in there with them? Like you have been in the past?”

“I think it’s really important to respect each relationship within our relationship. And tonight is important for them as a couple. I’m not saying I won’t think about what’s going on there on my own time!”

They both giggled and Jessie echoed that sentiment. 

“But I’m honestly not thinking about it much at the moment, as I’m having a pretty great time right here with you.”

Jessie grabbed a handful of popcorn, and nuzzled her head against Christy’s thigh, closing her eyes and reveling in the feel of her hand soft in her hair. 

  
  


xxx.

Link and Rhett could barely keep their hands off each other as they tumbled into the bedroom. Rhett had never seen it before and openly gawked as he took it all in. He was surprised as he looked over to find Link looking upon the room as if it was just as foreign to him. 

“Christy really went all out,” Link commented.

“Wow, you really didn’t want me thinking that you might have had anything to do with setting this up.”

“Does this look like something I would do?”

Rhett looked around the room. The curtains were drawn and the lighting was dimmed with scarves draped over the lamps tinting the light with romantic hues. There were some kind of flower petals on top of the comforter, and bottles of water on the end tables. 

“A guy can dream…”

“I’m sorry if I’m not as romantic as my wife is. But I’d wager neither are you. You really want flowers sticking to your bare ass?”

Rhett laughed, “Okay maybe not.”

Link unceremoniously yanked the blanket from the mattress and patted the clean sheet beneath. 

Rhett smiled and they climbed into bed. They held each other for a while. Eventually stripping off their shirts just to feel the skin-to-skin contact. 

Link told Rhett about the house, the honeymoon… And Rhett filled Link on a cheap house that he’d bought for the purpose of renting it out.

“So… you have roommates now?”

“I always did, bo.”

“Yeah, but it can’t be as easy with…”   
“Outsiders?” Rhett smirked.

“Hell yeah, outsiders. I don’t know if I could handle expanding this relationship much more.”

“This ain’t personal,” Rhett said in a bad impression of some kind of mobster character. “Strictly business.”

“You’re hilarious,” Link said with rolled eyes.

“I was actually hoping you wouldn’t mind me spending the bulk of my time over here?”

“Are you kidding?” Link rolled Rhett onto his back and pinned his hands above his head. “You’re lucky I don’t chain you up here.”

“Here as in this house? Or here as in this bed?”

“What answer are you hoping for?” Link dipped his head down to kiss on Rhett’s neck. 

Rhett moaned at the feeling, “I’ve missed you…. I’m always missing you. Every second I’m not here.”

Link pulled his head up softly with a pouty frown.

“Relax, Neal. This isn’t something you’re supposed to be able to ‘fix’ for me. It is what it is. You just gotta make it worth my while all the times we are together. Which is quite a freakin lot by the way.”

“So this isn’t about me being neglectful? It’s about you being insatiable!”

“You’ve never neglected me.”

“Never will. Now let’s get you out of those shorts and let me.. What did you say? ‘Make it worth your while’?”

“Hmmmm, yes sir,” Rhet grinned, lifting his hips to suggest that Link do the honors of pulling them off. 

Link did so, gladly. And kissed the exposed hip bones and thighs as he unwrapped them. He inhaled deeply the scent of Rhett’s musk and felt himself growing hard from it. 

“Can you reach the drawer, baby? There should be lube in there.”

Rhett reached over and pulled out the bottle, they both had to shake their heads as Christy had apparently wrapped a bow around it. 

“She’s too freakin much, man,” Rhett chuckled.

“She loves us.”

“How’d we get this lucky?”

“I can’t bring myself to think on that too much.”

“It’s not held together by magic, it’s not going to be mysteriously undone.” 

Link nodded to show that he’d heard Rhett. But he answered with a generous application of lubricant. And a firm hand, slowly stroking Rhett who stretched out on the bed like a regal cat as he basked in the touch. Link worked his cock slowly and silkily. He teased at the sensitive nerves at Rhett’s opening. Rhett was so practiced at this that his mind easily relaxed and allowed his body to do the same. 

Link applied more lube, to Rhett and to his own cock. He teased at Rhett’s hole with the tip of his cock instead of his fingertips now. Tracing faint circles and pushing in the tiniest bit just to feel how easily Rhett relaxed for him. His body knew what to expect, and looked forward to it. But Link was never careless. He eased himself in a little to feel the hug of Rhett around his head. And withdrew slowly. 

“I can take it,” Rhett said breathlessly.

“No one said you couldn’t, baby. I like taking my time with you.”

Rhett moaned, and took over for Link’s hand on his dick as Link teased his way inside.

“Don’t come too soon, we’ve got time.”

Rhett removed his hand and let Link take his time. 

“Missed you inside me.”

“I know you did.”

“You can be rough.”

“I don’t need you to tell me how to fuck you, Rhett.”

Rhett cocked an eyebrow.

“You really wanna taunt me right now?”

“I said I want you to get rough.”

Link shook his head. But he did speed his thrusts a bit, which judging by his sounds, Rhett did seem to like. 

“That’s it,” Rhett grunted. “Harder…?”

“Fuck,” Link huffed as he found himself doing as Rhett asked. “I don’t know if I can last like this. Been too long away from you. And this feels too…. Goodness, Rhett. You---”

“Don’t care, Link. You can come, just really make me feel it!” Rhett let one arm drop out toward the side of the bed, knocking one of the lamps and bottles of water over. 

Link groaned loudly as he came hard, jerking Rhett to completion as he did. 

They caught their breath and Rhett tossed Link the other bottle of water. 

“Why you gotta be so bossy in bed?” Link asked. Though he was smiling.

“You’re fun to rile up,” Rhett said with a broad grin. “And I know you always gimme what I ask for… so…. Why wouldn’t I make my demands known?”

“Your demands?” Link dramatically rolled his eyes. 

“And now I’m gonna try to discreetly use your restroom… And then demand that you hold me for the duration of whatever movie they’re watching out there.”

Link collapsed lazily onto the bed. “I think I can handle that. Just hurry up.”

“You miss me already?”

“Yeah, yeah. Hurry back, babe.”


	4. parts xxxi - xxxviii

xxxi.

Link watched Jessie’s back elongate as she stretched to reach some plates up in an overhead cabinet. Taking the sight of her in for a moment before helping her to reach them. He sidled up behind her, pressing his crotch up against her backside, full of intention. Jessie hummed happily and pushed her butt back against him, grinding playfully and hums turning into small moany whimpers. 

Links groin ached for her, and he was incredibly grateful to know Rhett was going to propose to her later that night. Because he didn’t think that he’d be able to resist her for much longer, and it was beginning to scramble his brain and make him forget any reasons that he had to not go through with the physical consummation of this fire that had sparked between them almost from day one. 

“We better finish helping set up for the party before Rhett’s family starts showing up and what not,” Jessie said shyly. And that was enough for Link to cool off. He wasn’t out to make anyone uncomfortable.

The party was for Rhett and Christy’s graduations. Link still had a semester to go, which Link was already trying to brace himself against Rhett’s brother’s inevitable teasing over that. 

Link didn’t want to let Rhett know but Cole had actually been getting under Link’s skin a little lately. Not only for his teasing, which, whatever. Link always had been like a little brother to him, so that made sense. But now there were starting to be other pressures that he was putting on Rhett, and by association, on himself. So Link just made a mental note to keep his distance. 

The party began and guests from everyone’s family were in attendance. Link imagined this would be a little like what the guest list would be if the four of them were able to have a wedding. Link sipped a light beer, and tried to relax and feel the peace of the gentle breeze through the humid southern summer air. 

His ears perked up as he heard Cole’s laughter. He couldn’t help himself drifting over toward that conversation. 

“I’m serious. I can’t believe this isn’t just Christy’s graduation. I would have put money on Rhett holding himself from graduating until Link caught up. Y’all do everything together! Both going to the same school, the same degree. Link buys a house, Rhett buys a house. I mean. Link got married. What you waiting for Rhett?”

The so-called joke got a lot of laughs from the crowd of family members. But Rhett had turned bright red. Links heart ached for him. It had put a completely unromantic spin on Rhett’s intended proposal. Making it seem like Rhett was just copying him. 

Link watched helplessly as Rhett tried to humor the guests the rest of the evening. Even as mama Di patted his arm and said “Never you mind your brother’s teasing. You make your own path in life, Rhett James. Though I wouldn’t mind you copying Link in marrying up. Jessie is a wonderful girl, and I’d love to have her as part of this family.”

Rhett carries the blow to his ego relatively well, Link thought. Seeming to let it roll off his shoulders. He always did a good job of covering up small little wounds like that. But Link was not like other people. He wasn’t blind to the wounds or to Rhett’s internal struggle to cover them up. 

He casually made his way toward Christy, and slipped his arms around her from behind to subtly whisper into her ear. 

“We may have some damage control to do later. I can’t have this proposal get postponed each time some dumbass relative thinks they got something funny to say.”

“Nobody does encouragement like the Neals,” Christy grinned and leaned her head back toward Link’s shoulder, tilting her head back for a kiss. 

xxxii. 

Rhett tried not to sulk for the duration of the evening, but the moment the last of the guests had departed he could feel his body slump heavily. All effort of putting on a front relieves from his neck and shoulders. 

He had wanted this to feel like a moment of triumph. Of celebration. He didn’t want it to feel like he was just doing it because of what Cole had said, or his mom had encouraged, and not because ‘Link had done it first’. 

As he was stewing, and Jessie was straightening up the kitchen inside, Link and Christy were not subtle as they moved to flank him. 

“Sure is a perfect night,” Christy observed. 

“Perfect for some kinda special moment.”

“Not now, y’all. I’m in a crappy mood.”

“You know what would make you feel better?” Link began, with Christy finishing:

“Proposing to marry that goddess in there!”

Rhett laughed. So quickly the rest of the world melted away and he was again one of the only true four walls he needed in the house that was his life. 

“He’s smiling!” Link announced.

“I’m gonna tell her you need her help out here,” Christy said, practically skipping as she ran into the house. 

Link and Rhett were silent for a beat. 

“You got the ring?”

“Had it all night.”

“Feels right?”

“Hell yes.”

“Hell yes,” Link confirmed, kissing Rhett softly, but deeply. 

“Christy said you needed my help, Rhett. But seems you’re doing just fine out here?”

Link slowly drew back, and Rhett missed him already. Would it be so inappropriate to just have him there for every major step of his life? Wouldn’t have to be kissing. Maybe just holding hands. Or brushing elbows. Just…. subtly pressing the tips of the toes together for strength and support. 

Not that he was nervous to propose to Jessie. 

Everything just always felt more complete with Link there. 

Link went to join Christy inside the house, and Rhett was surprised to find that his absence didn’t feel empty. Link wasn’t there. But there was no void. 

The cool night air, the moonlight and blanket of stars above. Fireflies mingled with fairy lights to create just what Link and Christy had said: a perfect night. 

“I do need your hand with something, actually.” 

Jessie tilted her face toward his. 

“And that’s uh, your hand in marriage!”

The crickets seemed unnaturally loud, and Rhett was disappointed there was no canned laughter or rimshot of a drum like there might be if his life were a sitcom. 

“Are you serious?”

“About the delivery, or the offer? Um, proposal?”

She assessed him skeptically. “Any of it!?”

He sank to one knee, running his fingers over her hips, down the skirt of her dress, and softly down the sides of her legs in a way that he simply knew would leave those legs weak. 

“Marry me, Jessie.”

He wouldn’t have been so bold or cocky if he didn’t know that she absolutely loved him for that. And sure enough, her laughter burst forth like a choir of angles. Heralding the safe arrival of his proposal in the land of She Said Yes.

“And why should I?”

“Because who else are you gonna marry—?”

She gasped, face still holding its glowing grin. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You didn’t let me finish.” He pulled out the engagement ring and presented it to her, looking into those warm, endless, molten brown eyes. “Who else are you going to marry, that can offer you as much love as I can - with the others. And that has the bandwidth to nurture and make space for the magnitude of love that you have to give? We were made for each other. We are already a family. Let’s make it official and watch it grow in ways that we can’t even imagine.”

“Okay, okay,” Jessie conceded, trying to blink back joyful tears. “There ain’t nobody for me like you. You had that absolutely right.” 

They sealed their intentions with a kiss. 

And Rhett knew that Christy and Link would be watching from the window, and likely doing the same. 

xxxiii.

To celebrate Link’s separate graduation months later, the four were packing their bags in preparation for a weekend trip to the beach. 

“Imagine winding down the end of our college careers with a beach trip,” Link mused. “It’s like a last spring break adventure or something.”

“Speak for yourself old man,” Jessie said with a wink. “I’ve still got some college days ahead of me. Who knows how wild I might get!”

Rhett snorted, as he pushed down on the top to close his suitcase. “Yeah, Girls Gone Wild. That’s you.”

“He thinks I’m playin’,” Jessie said to Christy and they shared mischievous grins before lifting up their tops to flash the boys - shimmying their shoulders for full effect. 

“I swear,” Link said pantomiming lightheadedness. “I’m gonna pass out from y’all’s HEAT.” 

“You ain’t seen nothin yet,” Jessie teased, giving him a lingering kiss that she finished off with a nip at his bottom lip. 

Things between Link and Jessie had heated up quickly. The spark between them had been a quick fire in contrast to the slow and steady simmer between Christy and Rhett. Things were always warmer than fiery, and softer than the way that Jessie and Link’s desire seemed to nick and the edges of one another. 

It was only a matter of time before the knife sank in deeply. 

They arrived at the beach and spent the day strolling the boardwalk, swimming and lounging about in their swimwear. They watched the sunset over the ocean from the wooden deck of their hotel. 

The sun seemed to have sucked the energy from Christy and Rhett disproportionately to Link and Jessie. They decided to continue their night by taking some snacks and drinks outside and giving Rhett and Christy the quiet to recharge and turn in early if they chose to. 

They found the gentle slope beneath the raised deck of the hotel to be far enough. The wooden porch tented over them and they spread out a couple of beach towels like a blanket for a picnic and found that they had a perfect view of the moonlight reflecting off the gentle waves. Stars twinkled like fireflies as they shared a bag of chips and wine coolers. 

“I think about us a lot,” Link said lazily as he stroked Jessie’s sun-kissed skin.

“Like how?” she smiled.

“Mmmm” Link purred. “All kinds of ways, girl.”

Jessie giggled, and then for a moment they were silent. Except for the sound of the ocean, crashing forward and ripping itself back reluctantly from the sands. Until Jessie broke the silence.

“I guess my real question isn’t “like how?”.” She looked him in the eye with such passionate lust that it could have burned Link worse than any direct sunlight he’d gotten that day. “It’s: Like when?”

He leaned forward and kissed her hard. Her lips parting easily for his tongue, she sucked on it suggestively, loaded with intent. 

“Any objections to right now?”

xxxiv.

Jessie’s blush was just barely visible in the moonlight. It wasn’t a reaction of modesty or shyness, she was flushed with desire. 

“Do we have everything we’d need to…?”

Link produced a condom from his loose board shorts and set it at the corner of their beach towel. 

Jessie’s arms surged up to pull Link down for the type of kiss that spoke volumes for her intentions. Their tongues plunging deep, wet and insatiable. 

Link could feel the heat and wetness between Jessie’s legs even through the material of her bikini bottoms. He pushed them to the side to touch her and make her sigh. She didn’t flinch or jump at his touch. It soothed her body, and she welcomed his touch, sinking down as his fingers probed upward. 

“I’m more than ready for you,” she said, stating the obvious as his fingers glided easily, in and out of her soft heat. 

“I’m not touching you to “get you ready for me”,” Link said as he watched the workings of his own digits reverently. “I’m doing it to make you feel good. So tell me, Jess” His voice was thick and low, his eyes made it look as if he was in a trance. “Does it feel good for you?” 

Jessie couldn’t explain the degree of understatement in his words: “feel good”. So she didn’t try, she just nodded enthusiastically and rested a hand on his arm, feeling how his muscles worked as he moved his wrist. 

Link spread her wider and lowered his tongue to trace at her lower lips, sending shivers up and down her spine, her legs couldn’t part any further. Link could not be more welcome between them. 

He teased at her clit with his tongue and lips, and he could feel how her pussy would tighten around his fingers in response. 

“Mmmm. Tell me if you like it,” he prompted. 

“I can’t hardly talk right now!” She whispered harshly, all in one breath. 

“Please, baby?”

“I love it,” her hips rocked against his hand, trying to feel him deeper, she raised her pelvis subtly to press against his lips as she moved upward. “You’re so good, Link, but please… Don’t make me wait any more.”

“I’m not trying to tease. Just,” he fluttered his tongue and she had to clasp her hand over her moans to keep quiet. 

“Please Link. I want more.”

Link’s trembling hand reached for the condom, and his shaky fingers struggled to unwrap it. Jessie impatiently came to his aid, easily tearing it open, and suggesting, “Let me?”

Link shrugged and shimmied out of his shorts, scooching to sit next to Jessie, his cock full at attention. 

“Mm Link,” she sighed at the sight of him like this. “I can’t wait to have you inside me.”

He leaned in to kiss her as she rolled the condom down, savoring the feel of his length in her hand, anticipating how good it would feel filling her body. 

Link leaned her back down onto the towel, and lined himself up with her swollen, dripping pussy. He teased the entrance with his tip, playing in the wetness, feeling her hips move under him, searching for deeper contact. He finally gave in and pressed forward gently sliding smoothly inside of her. Pushing slowly, feeling her knees fall to the side in a full open butterfly, and her mouth hung open in a smile and her eyes rolled back as he didn’t stop pressing until his lower belly rubbed against her. 

“You are so beautiful, Jess.”

“You make me feel that way…”

He kissed her and rocked her hips, letting himself get used to the feel of her. 

They naturally maneuvered themselves so that Jessie was on top of him, unable to sit all the way up and bounce on his dick without knocking her head on the boards of the deck above them. So she leaned forward as she rode him. Which allowed her breasts to hang down to brush her nipples against his chest, and to rub her clit down and forward, stimulating herself against the coarse textures where Link’s dark hairs of his pubes converged with the train from his belly. 

She groaned and hummed at the feeling of his thick cock filling her pussy. Feeling herself relax and open to accommodate his size. He made her ache in the most lovely way possible. 

“You’re gonna make me cum, Link,” she sighed as her heart fluttered in her heaving chest. Her thighs tightened as her muscles all tensed for the approaching wave. “You feel so good!” She whispered harshly to keep from crying out. The only sound she was unable to control were the wet squelches of their excited movements. 

“Yeah,” Link encouraged, trying to keep his movements and pacing consistent to help drive her the direction she was heading. “Wanna feel you cumming.

Jessie closed her eyes and bit her lip as she pressed her hips back to grind down onto Link’s dick as deeply as she could take him. She had a fleeting filthy thought about what it would be like at this moment to also have Rhett filling her mouth, or her ass. And that flash of fantasy sent her over, spasming intensely around Link’s cock. She ground her clit down against his body until she couldn’t take the stimulation. 

Link continued to thrust his hips, pounding into her well past her orgasm, making her feel like she might pass out from the pleasure. 

“Need me to stop?” He asked brusquely, in a barely articulate mumble. 

“No!” She husked, senses heightened. Feeling somehow more open and lusty than before. “No, don’t stop. Fuck me, Link. Fuck me harder!”

He wrapped an arm around her and flipped them back over so he could use the full force of his weight to thrust into her. She would have bruises on her inner thighs the next day from his hips crashing against her. (Her dizzy, sex-drunk brain pictured Rhett kissing the marks for her.)

Her legs lifted up to wrap around his back, and he guided them higher until they were resting over his shoulders, he had her folded in half, driving into her soft wet sex making her pussy clench with every thrust. His belly covered in her wetness, cock sliding in and out. His rhythm began to break. 

“Come on, Link! Give it to me!”

He chased his orgasm relentlessly, until he emptied his load into the tip of the rubber as he held himself buried inside of her soft embrace, cock twitching in her warmth. 

He pulled out slowly, watching his length slide slowly out and sighing softly at the lovely way that Jessie’s lips closed as he left her hollow and empty. He stripped off the condom and tied it off, tossing it back to a corner. 

“Think you can cum again?” He asked eagerly. Nuzzling his head into her soft stomach and bringing his fingers to touch the delicate, over sensitized and slippery skin between her legs. Now she did flinch and twitch at his touches. 

“I don’t know, baby.” She answered honestly. “This has been a lot!”

He snaked down her body, breathing hotly over her clit. He wet his tongue and applied flat dull pressure that she couldn’t stop herself pushing up into. She buried her hands in his hair and encouraged him to keep going. She hadn’t honestly thought she had anything left in her. But she couldn’t resist the feel of his mouth on her. He was so eager. And so skilled. And. 

Her eyes rolled back again as her mouth formed an “o” of a silent scream. He sucked on her clit, pulsing his lips on her as he worked fingers inside her, crooking them with gentle steady pressure. 

He backed his lips away, letting light fluttery pulses of his tongue do the work. It took a moment for her to realize that she was actually doing “the work” herself. Fucking herself on his fingers, and rubbing her clit against his freely flickering tongue. 

Link was letting her use his fingers and face like a sex toy. And it was really working for her. 

She felt her body pulsing with ecstasy yet again as she shimmied her hips to brush herself against Link’s tongue and fucked herself on his fingers. 

Her body arched into a bridge and she full-body twitched a couple of times before collapsing onto the beach towel. Utterly spent. Her brain was throbbing and mindless mush as she managed to mumble a mindless string of thanks and praises. 

He kissed her softly. Forehead. Neck. And whispered, “I love your body. How it responds… thank you for sharing it with me, is what I guess I’m trying to say.”

“Remind me later,” Jessie sighed. “Once I can think clearly again. I have a lot of ideas for things - and people - we can share.”

xxxv.

Things settled into an easy rhythm after Link graduated. They were now both working as engineers with similar 9-5 hours, similar haircuts and slipping into similar ruts. 

Rhett had never felt so uninspired. And he was frustrated because Link seemed content to be in the rut. Rhett just didn’t see the romance in working the hardest or being the best at something that made him feel so mediocre at the end of the day. And if it wasn’t worth the effort of being the best, was it even worth doing?

He stopped by Link and Christy’s early one evening to find that Link was working late. 

“Ugh,” Rhett complained aloud to Christy. “Eight hours isn’t enough torture for that guy?”

Christy rolled her eyes affectionately and softly smiled. “Do you want to sit down, Rhett? I can make you some tea.”

“I don’t need tea,” he side-eyed with hopes that Christy was still making the tea that he had claimed he didn’t want. She was. “I want my friend back. This is just like when he’d overwork himself back in school, to the neglect of… more important parts of life. This job is sucking all the life outta him.”

“What and that’s supposed to be your job?”

Rhett was glad he didn’t have any tea at this point because he was sure he would have spit it out in his laughter.

They both laughed. 

“You’re a dirty girl…”

Christy grinned, but then put a reassuring hand over his. “You know how Link is, when he decides to do something he puts his all into it.”

“Yeah, I do know that and it’s something that I really do love about him. I just think a guy like Link could afford to be more choosy about what he’s... putting himself into? And please, no more innuendo! I can’t take it.” Rhett made a show of mock-exasperation.

Christy slides her chair around the kitchen table to be closer to Rhett. 

“Then you gotta make him.”

“I- what?”

“I’ve seen some of the stuff you guys have created together. I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know if it’s for everybody. And I don’t know a thing about getting it off the ground and in front of an audience. But you two together, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen: in friendship, or entertainment. I think you two deserve to be seen.”

“Gosh, Chris… that’s…”

“But you are right about Link, he is gonna be overwhelmed by chasing a dream. He needs you to help him take that leap. You gotta keep pushing him, Rhett.”

“You believe in us that much?” 

She nodded and Rhett felt his heart swell and his throat choke up with validation that he hadn’t even been chasing when he turned up on the Neals’ doorstep. He leaned in slowly to give Christy the autonomy to meet him halfway with a kiss that had the passion to back her words up. 

She believed in them. 

She loves them. 

And he didn’t know if he’d ever loved her more than in that moment. 

“There’s another… leap I’d like for you to take, Rhett. For us to take? Now I’m not gonna push you, because this ain’t like some kind of opportunity that’s gonna slip away, I-“

Rhett cut her off with another kiss as he scooped her up in his arms. “Just tell me where, girl…”

xxxvi.

“Our bedroom’s fine,” Christy managed to huff between kisses that barely gave her room to breathe. 

Rhett wasted no time in whisking her into hers and Link’s bedroom and laying her down as gently as a sleeping newborn. 

“You aren’t going to break me,” she assured him, sitting up briefly to untie her hair, and shaking it out. Her thick and wild blonde hair framed her face stunningly, and Rhett thought she looked like an elegant lionesse. 

“Lady lions don’t have manes,” he told himself. 

“Rhett, sugar? Are you too nervous for us to do this right now?”

He looked at her face, flushed pink, eyes wide and lusty. 

“No way in hell we’re not doing this.” He pulled off his terrible polo work shirt, and began to unbuckle his pants as Christy pulled her top up over her head. 

“Thank god. I think I’m gonna go crazy if I have to get through one more day of not knowing how it feels to have you inside me.”

Rhett had no words, but he had the impression that she wasn’t looking for him to say a damn thing. He skillfully unhooked her bra and heart began to race as her breasts hung freely before him. Nipples hardened with anticipation. 

“I don’t even know where to start,” Rhett murmured. Mesmerized by the sight of her. Not that he hadn’t seen her in this context before… but he had been anticipating this moment for so long, he didn’t wanna mess it up. 

“Well, I’ll make this real simple for you,” she told him. She shimmied out of her jeans and spread her legs wide beneath him, as he held himself above her. “I already know how incredible you are with your hands,” she demonstrated her point by drawing one of his fingers into her full lips and caressing it slowly with her tongue before releasing it. “And I already know how incredible you are with your mouth.” She nibbled and sucked at his lips until he was whimpering against them. She reached over to tap at the nightstand, and Rhett completed the thought by using his long arms to grab a condom from the drawer. 

He hurriedly tore it open and rolled it down. 

She pulled his body back down over hers, kissing his lips, traveling the thin trail of hair along his jawline to whisper into his ear, “Fuck me real good Rhett. I been waiting for this for so long…”

He pressed her shoulders back to the bed, and then raised her arms up over her head, pinning them to the pillows. He didn’t ask her to hold that posture, but she did anyway. 

His broad hands traveled down the peaks and valleys of her familiar curves, coming to rest at her hips. 

He positioned himself between her legs and didn’t waste any more of their time before touching his tip to her wetness. He pressed his head inside and took his time feeling the way that she opened for him, stretching around his girth as he slowly filled her. It was like there was a mechanism within her that the deeper he pressed the wider her legs and mouth fell open for him. He didn’t stop until he could feel her thick wetness between them. 

“Oh god, Rhett…” she almost whispered. “Finally.” 

“Finally,” he echoed with a bit of a grunt. His upper body began to tremble as he tried to commit to memory the way that she felt enveloping his cock. Squeezing around it. He took her lips in his own and kissed her, lowering himself down onto forearms, rounding his shoulders so that his lips could still reach hers. 

She moaned into his mouth, “I have waited so long to feel you like this at both ends.” It all came out in one quick raspy breath, and it was one of the hottest sentiments Rhett could recall hearing. 

It made him hyper aware of the feel of her, sucking on his tongue and nipping at his lips above, and swallowing his cock deep within her below. He felt like he had to focus to move his whole body as one organism, the pleasures were so distinct. 

She began to buck her hips to meet his thrusts, and he found a new appreciation for her core strength. It almost felt like she was riding him somehow, from underneath him as she raised her hips and ground them against his dick. Whining and moaning how good he felt, and how big he was, and all sorts of compliments affectionately blown out of proportion in the heat of this culmination of their longstanding lust and love. 

He buried his head into the pillows next to her and he could clearly smell Link’s scent there. He smiled. It was comforting to have an element of Link with him, in addition to the fact that there was always an element of Link present in everything he ever did. 

But it was just a fleeting comfort. Not a distraction, not an addition. Christy was all there was, and he felt her undivided attention as she arched up into his body, sliding herself up and down his length, making sure he was everywhere within her that she needed him to be. 

“Touch me, Rhett. And I'm gonna come undone.” 

He didn’t need to be told twice, he wanted to feel her coming, and he told her as much as he shifted onto his shoulder and brought a hand down to massage her clit as he buried himself deeply, pulsing his hips to meet her rocking and grinding motions. 

“Oh god,” she inhaled. 

He didn’t correct her. He’d be whatever god or man she needed just as long as he felt her breaking off all around him. 

He found a pace of movement over her clit that had her clawing at the sheets and steeled himself to maintain it as long as he needed to. 

“Oh god!” she cried out again, in a higher pitch. 

And then she had no words, only whines, moans and his name. 

She bucked wildly beneath him as he finally felt her seizing around him and grinding out  her pleasure.

“Don’t stop!” She begged breathlessly with ecstatic tears leaking from the corner of her eyes. 

He pressed his lips against hers, not exactly in a kiss. But like he was anchoring her to keep her from floating away on the waves of her orgasm. 

“Don’t stop,” she reiterated. “Keep fucking me, keep going until you come.”

He suspected they both knew that wouldn’t be long.

“You can do it harder?” She suggested one a questioning tone. 

“Yeah.” 

“Yes, Rhett! Harder. Really fuck me!”

He was instantly back up on his elbows for leverage. Bearing down as he earned a yelp with every deep stroke. 

“Yes!”

“Yeah?”

“Just like that! Just like that!”

He nearly cursed as he faltered and spilled himself inside the latex. He knew he’d been close to getting her off again. 

He instantly shimmied down her body, and for his mouth on her mound, pulsing his tongue relentlessly against her clit and working a pair of fingers inside her. He was rewarded again with watching her elongate and writhe her body against the sheets, squealing his name and burying her fingers into her own golden hair. 

Her body finally calmed and she began to softly hum and then giggle as he nuzzled her neck with his scruffy face. 

They both looked at each other in mutual admiration. And neither one needed to say it or hear it again. The look they shared said it all. 

_ Finally _ . 

xxxvii. 

“I never had to pay to dance with you before,” Link said, grinning from ear to ear and almost glowing as if it was his own wedding day. In fact, as nervous and green as Link had felt on his own actual wedding day, he looked far better now. 

“Well, it is my special day,” Jessie said as she took Link’s hand for what she knew would be too short a stint at a slow dance. 

The tradition was awkward if you slowed down to think about it. Wedding guests putting a dollar in a coffee can for an opportunity to dance with the bride on her wedding day. Jessie couldn’t help drawing a parallel to dancing for tips. With most the patrons being male relatives. 

But it didn’t really feel like that, it was lovely to get to have a moment with each of her guests. And it was a side tradition for some of the bride’s girl friends to put a dollar in the can for a dance. Jessie rolled her eyes at the implication and why it was so ‘wild’ when they did. “Two girls, slow dancing together! Well, I never!!”

(She hoped that Christy would put a dollar down.)

But for now, for all too brief a moment - on a day that was flying by and she was struggling to actively anchor memory points, because it was all so much. So significant - for now, she was in Link’s arms. Trying not to hold him the way she wanted to. Acting like they hadn’t moved together before. 

“You look so beautiful, Jess.” Link said, voice dripping with awe and affection. 

With all the other emotions swirling in her mind, this was almost too much. 

“This whole thing is an elaborate ploy to see you in a suit again. You’re pretty beautiful yourself.”

They traded barely audible sugary compliments until the next dancer cut in.

Rhett’s heart swelled with love as he watched two of his favorite people dancing together. It was beautiful to see, and in that moment he felt like he was watching a lifetime of moments unfold before him. They would all metaphorically get to watch each other dance for the rest of their lives. 

His reverie was interrupted and he was so startled that he flinched and nearly spilled his ice water when an outsider voice broke the spell he’d been under. 

“You should watch your buddy there, Rhett.” 

Rhett had known Bill for as long as he’d lived in Buies Creek. They’d gone to school together, church together. 

Rhett took a sip of water and simply quirked an eyebrow. 

“He’s looking at your lady like she’s something to eat.”

Rhett rolled his eyes. 

“I’m serious man. I saw them dancing, and it looked a little too close for anything I’d be comfortable with.”

“Maybe I’m a little more secure than you then, Billy.”

Bill didn’t like that answer. 

“Hey. I’m just lookin out for you. If I saw my best buddy looking at my girl like that, on my weddin day. In public? I’d have something to say about it.”

Now Rhett was getting pissed. 

“That’s my best friend. And my wife. The two people I trust most in the world. I don’t need you reporting back to me on what they’re doing. If there’s something I need to know about I’ll know it from them. Not you. And I’m sorry if you don’t have the same faith in your relationships.”

“Whatever man,” Bill huffed and walked away. 

Rhett was fuming after the encounter, and made a beeline toward Link who was exiting the dance floor and headed toward the bathrooms. 

Rhett followed Link into the bathroom, quickly assessed that there was no one else in there with them before pinning Link to the wall so hard he nearly knocked the wind out of him.

“Hold up there, babe,” Link wheezed with whatever breath was left in him. “Save it for the wedding night?”

“Indeed, Neal. That’s what I wanna talk about.”

“This is talking?”

Rhett eased off and took a breath. 

“You gotta be more discreet in public, man.”

“I— I didn’t mean..”

“I know that, Link. Of course I know that. We’re all very… comfortable. And I love that we have that. But. Other people wouldn’t understand, and I don’t want people… thinking things.”

“People have always thought things…” Link said somewhat sadly. “First about me and you, now about our wives. There’s always someone tellin me that I love too much.”

Rhett’s heart broke for him. For all of them. 

“I’m sorry about that, honey. I really am. But if this thing is gonna be sustainable… If we wanna keep making up our own rules, we’re gonna have to convincingly play by society’s sometimes too.”

Link didn’t say anything, he just nodded. 

Rhett kisses his forehead, his nose, his lips. “There’s nothing wrong with the way you love. The way that we love. I just wanna make sure we can keep doin it.”

“I’m so sorry, Rhett. I never meant to be careless.”

Rhett just kissed him again and again. Heart racing as he broke his own rule that he had just tried to reinforce, getting them both worked up where anyone could walk in at any moment. But Rhett couldn’t stop. He just wanted to make Link happy. 

“You look incredible by the way. God I wanna peel your outta that tux…”

“Later. I promise. Still part of the plan.”

“Are you sure? It’s.. your wedding night and all.”

“It is. And Jessie and I will have plenty of time on our honeymoon for just the two of us. It’s not like tonight we’re givin each other ourselves for the first time. And we talked about it and agreed, we still want tonight to be special. And we can’t think of anything more special than being with y’all.”

It wasn’t like the four of them were going to be able to marry and have a honeymoon for four. Rhett didn’t say that part out loud, he didn’t want to bum Link out again when he was starting to cheer up. 

“So at the end of the night, you and Christy will ‘go home’ as far as anyone knows. And no one knows what hotel Jessie and I are staying at tonight, outside of town where our cars won’t be recognized. We’ll meet there.”

“And I’ll behave until then, I promise.”

The door opened and Rhett thought he was gonna jump out of his skin. 

“Dance floor’s heating up out there, fellas!” Rhett’s uncle announced, enjoying the festivities a little too much to notice anything heated between Rhett and Link. 

“Yep,” Rhett said, trying to clear his throat and straighten his tux. “Lookin Good out there, too, Uncle Jim.”

He clapped Rhett on the back. “Real nice party, Rhett.”

“Thanks. Thanks for coming.”

They exited the restroom. Hoping they weren’t too noticeably flushed, danced with their own wives the duration of the evening, and all quietly yearned for it to end. 

So that it could begin again. 

xxxviii. 

When they arrived at the motel, Christy’s heart was fluttering with nervous excitement. They’d never all been in the same room… during. 

It wasn’t like it was a line being crossed, and nobody really had expressed any boundaries or reason for that. 

It just was how it had always been. 

Christy owed it to everyone, just as everyone owed it to everybody else, to have had many honest moments of introspection. 

It didn’t bother her to see Rhett and Link together. But they had been there first. She had been the addition. Now Jessie was the newcomer. Christy had to ask herself how she felt about that. 

And she genuinely thought she was okay with it. She didn’t know how she felt about interacting with Jessie during everything. Or if she would want to watch. Or if she would just be content that they were all in the same room, having their own separate moments of love and pleasure. 

It was so difficult to predict what she was going to feel when the time came. And society didn’t have rules or guidelines for how she was supposed to feel about this new encounter. 

It was reassuring to know that it was a new dynamic for everyone else as well. They were some kind of… relationship unit. And they were all figuring it out together. 

She loved Jessie. 

She trusted her. 

She didn’t know what else, but she had to just be okay with that uncertainty. And be open to whatever she wound up feeling: whether it was more or less than she was predicting. Whether it was more or less than she thought the guys would be expecting. 

The second they got through the door Link was clinging to Rhett, pulling him close for a kiss. It sometimes broke Christy’s heart how hard it was for Link to not openly express how much he wanted Rhett, and it always showed in their embraces when they finally had the opportunity. 

“Easy, honey,” Rhett soothed him with a shy smile. Christy didn’t think she’d ever seen Rhett blush like that. And it put her at ease to see that she wasn’t the only one affected by the new circumstances. 

They truly were all in this together. 

Christy helped Jessie out of her wedding dress, remembering her own wedding and how even in early spring she had been roasting in the dress and couldn’t wait to get out of it. 

“I’m just gonna rinse the sweat off me, and then Link I am gonna need my husband back at some point!”

“Yes, ma’am,” Link told her. He and Rhett finished bringing the rest of the bags inside and Christy helped to put everything away or at least get it out of the walk ways. There were too many people to be tripping over suitcases and backpacks. 

Christy nudged the edge of one of the queen-sized beds with her hip. She leaned into it and it budged. Pleased, she put her back into it until she had pushed it to meet the other queen sized bed forming one… super-bed.

“Yeah?” Link asked vaguely. 

Christy smiled and shrugged, not fully sure what she was suggesting. 

“We should get undressed,” she offered. “Don’t want Jessie feeling underdressed when she gets out of the shower.”

She loosened Link’s tie, and felt Rhett slide up behind her to unzip her dress and slip it off her shoulders as she opened the front of Link’s dress shirt. 

It felt so natural to be intimate, even just like this, with the three of them. 

She hadn’t noticed that the water had cut off when she looked over to see Jessie standing in the doorway, hair wet and sticking to her freshly showered body. Droplets of water ran down her sun kissed skin. Christy watched one bead run over the curve of her breast, clinging to a pebbled nipple.

“There you are, Mrs McLaughlin,” Rhett announced with pride. 

“Damn girl,” Link said with a wolfish grin. “You look good enough to eat.” He walked over and scooped her up off her feet and carried her over to the bed. 


	5. part xxxix

xxxix. 

Christy watched Link set Jessie onto the edge of the bed. He kneeled before her and spread her legs. Christy could barely breathe, the rare third-person perspective of watching Link like this was overwhelming. She’d seen him go down on Rhett countless times over the years, but for whatever reason this felt like reaching some whole other level of eroticism. 

He traced a finger over her lower lips and hummed his approval. 

“Wet from the shower, or you just excited?”

Jessie’s laugh was almost convincing, just a hint too high to not betray her nervous excitement. “Heh. Like you don’t know the difference.”

“You’re right,” he pressed his finger in deeper and She watched as Jessie’s eyes rolled back, and Christy felt a thrill because she intimately understood what Jessie was feeling right now. Christy felt her nipples harden. 

Link continued his pseudo clinical assessment of his best friend’s wife. “This is much too hot, thick and slick to be shower water. You must be really turned on, Mrs McLaughlin. But you know your husband has a big cock, right? You’re gonna have to be turned on to be able to let his big fat dick into this cute little pussy. What do you think, Jess? You gonna let me get you all ready for him?”

Jessie propped herself up on her elbows and looked at Rhett and Christy. Christy felt her stomach flutter with warmth as she met Jessie’s dark, dilated eyes over her pink cheeks. Christy’s throat went dry, and other places moistened. She figured the only person that wanted Link’s mouth on Jessie more than her might have been Jessie. 

She and Rhett relaxed into their chairs as they watched the back of Link’s head sink between Jessie’s legs. Jessie’s thighs fell open wider and she gripped the sheets as Link got to work. She moaned beautifully and openly with every stroke and flick and flutter of his tongue. 

Christy unabashedly spread her legs in her seat to push her panties to the side, and lightly rubbed her clit in sync with Jessie’s whines. Imagining how good her man’s tongue was making her feel. 

Christy’s breathing was hot and heavy as she looked over at Rhett who was sweating, but hadn’t done much aside from watch. 

Christy walked over to his chair and sank onto her knees before him, swiftly unbuckling his pants and getting them around his ankles. She took his thick cock into her mouth and soon his moans were harmonizing with his wife’s. 

She pulled off of him for long enough to warn him, “Don’t you dare cum. You still gotta fuck Jessie good. It is your wedding night after all.” She winked at him playfully before taking him down all the way, and filling her throat with him, listening to him threaten to hyperventilate as she worked her mouth around him. 

Rhett tapped her shoulder to slow her down, and when she pulled off his cock was shiny, swollen and dripping with saliva and pre-cum. She followed his eyes to look behind at how Link was playing with Jessie. He had her spread wide and she looked so wet and soft. Christy’s brain felt like it was full of static and fuzz. She couldn’t focus on anything with how electrically charged she felt. 

“Look at this Rhett,” Link said in a growling lusty voice as he stroked Jessie’s pussy, and lightly teased at her clit making her clench around nothing - so desperate to be filled. 

Christy could feel her aching need and moaned on her behalf. Rhett reached down to pet her hair and Christy leaned into his touch like a cat stretching upward to meet its owner's hand. 

“Rhett,” Link’s voice sounded like sex dragged over a mile of gravel. Christy and Rhett turned to look at him in unison. “She’s more than ready for you, brother. Now get over here and fuck your wife.”

Rhett was so shook, he stood on knees that were as steady as a newborn giraffe’s. He walked toward Link, who was standing between Jessie’s wide spread knees. Jessie lay on the bed touching herself. Link pulled Rhett down for a sloppy kiss, and Christy was left to imagine how that kiss must taste. Link got out of the way for Rhett, and Rhett pulled Jessie’s legs to bring her hips over the edge of the bed and Christy watched with her mouth hanging open in awe as Rhett lined up his thick cock, still dripping with her spit, and pressed himself inside of Jessie’s cock-starved pussy. Jessie squealed as Rhett slid himself deep inside. She grabbed at her tits and arched her back, wriggling her hips against him as he bottomed out inside of her. 

Christy had begun to rub herself more vigorously as she and Link watched. 

Wordlessly, Link took her hand and they made their way over to the opposite side of the bed. 

She got onto the bed and immediately opened her legs for her husband. He leaned over to kiss her and she kissed him back passionately, but as they broke apart she implored, “Just fuck me, baby? Please.”

He grinned. “Absolutely.” 

She loved his mouth. She couldn’t imagine a better one. But right now she just needed to get railed. And she couldn’t imagine a better man for that job either. 

But there was no “just fucking” when it came to Link Neal. He grabbed his cock and tapped it repeated on her aroused clit, provoking the sensitized nerves and making her convulse and shudder beneath him. She knew how much he loved to watch her squirm, and she gave him a show - not that she had much of a choice. Her body was desperate and at his mercy. 

“Link, please!” She begged him, and she heard Rhett and Jessie moaning excitedly in response. 

As if she needed another reason to be out-of-her-mind turned on… The reminder that the two of them were right there! Listening to them as they were having each other. The reminder that Link wasn’t the only one she was putting on a show for. 

She decided to lean into that excitement. 

“Oh please,” she whined theatrically, without losing the sincerity. “Fuck me, Link. Can’t you see how bad I need it? Fuck me with that nice, big dick of yours.”

Link was speechless, a rare look for him. He raised his head and she could see the precise moment that he made eye contact with Rhett across the pushed-together beds. The moment when his full pink lips spread into a grin. He nodded, took his cock in his hand and thrust it into Christy’s warm waiting body. 

She screamed with pleasure and the line between theatrics and legitimate blindblown appreciation was non-existent. 

“God yes! Oh fuck that’s good,” she moaned over and over as he fucked her deep and steady. She reached down to finger at her clit, making herself involuntarily squeeze around his shaft. Feeling how full he made her. Her eyes rolling back as he pounded into her with wet and sloppy sounds. Her hand moved down to feel him sliding in and out of her. Feeling how hard and swollen he was as he glided inside of her. Loving the slippery feel of him working in and out. 

“Lemme..” he whispered hoarsely, pushing her slick coated fingers away, and applying his own pressure to her clit as he fucked her. 

“I’m gonna come, baby,” she announced to the room. “But when I do, don’t you dare stop!”

Link grunted and kept at it. 

Christy’s hands moved up her own body, threaded through her hair as her eyes rolled back in ecstasy. Her back arched and as she followed the roll of her back and eyes, something occurred to her…

She tilted her head all the way back; away from Link and staring at the opposite side of the room. They were upside down from her perspective, but there they were: Rhett and Jessie. 

Rhett looked incredible, looming large over Jessie’s tight tiny body. He was so long and slimly muscular. Jessie writhed beneath him: whining and moaning so beautifully in response to the things he was doing to her. It was a gorgeous sight and Christy couldn’t take her eyes off of them. 

Rhett caught her looking and leaned down to whisper something to Jessie. 

Jessie tilted her chestnut head of hair back until her big bedroom eyes met Christy’s. Her mouth hung open with pleasure, her chest heaving, breasts bouncing with Rhett’s thrusts. Jessie raised her hands up over her head, extending them across the bed to meet in the middle where the beds were pressed together. 

Christy took the cue and extended her arms out to meet Jessie in the middle. 

They locked hands. Jessie’s hands were so soft and warm. They would occasionally pulse little affectionate squeezes, or lovingly stroke the outside of Christy’s hands with her thumbs. 

Christy grounded herself by squeezing Jessie’s hand as her body released in an undulating wave of an orgasm as Link slowly grinded down into her. 

He didn’t stop and she rode her climax out happily by fucking herself on his dick. Taking him for everything he was worth until he was a sweaty mess collapsing alongside her on the bed. 

They entwined their spent forms and kissed one another relentlessly, and then were content to simply hold one another. 

Rhett and Jessie must have had some kind of wedding-night adrenaline rush going on to have both started before and finished after the Neals. The wet, sensual sounds of their lovemaking was like music to Christy’s ears. After they finished, they all reconfigured themselves on the beds to place Christy and Jessie on the inside, hands loosely laced together, with their husbands spooning them, arms wrapped around naked shoulders and arms to also touch hands. 

Realistically Christy knew that this positioning would crumble once they fell asleep. Body heat would become too hot. Limbs would fall asleep or cramp, and disentangle. But the moment solidified something in Christy’s mind that she knew she would carry in her heart as long as she lived: this was her pack. And she would protect its integrity at all costs. 


	6. xl

Link had been in a funk for the past week. 

His boss had been breathing down his neck all week, making unfair double standards for him while other lower-performing coworkers got away with significantly less work. He felt torn between speaking up for himself and coming across as a whiner who couldn’t handle his workload. 

He was pretty much actively avoiding running into Cole in public whenever he went to town. He’d always wind up in some uncomfortable conversation about furthering his and Rhett’s involvement with the church. He suspected that Cole figured that Link had Rhett’s ear and that if he could convince Link, Rhett would naturally follow. And he was probably right about that part, they were often a package deal. But Cole didn’t know just how intimately that tie ran, and how conflicted it made Link feel when he thought too much about religion. 

And it didn’t help that while Link was feeling all of this stress, Rhett and Jessie had been away on their honeymoon. Christy had been an incredible rock for him, but Link was used to having an immediate support system three-people deep and it was almost like they’d forgotten how to function as a two-person unit. Christy never knew if she was being supportive or smothering. Link never knew if he was being vulnerable by leaning on her or needy and clingy. 

Link wasn’t sure if he’d been rubbing his temples before or after he heard the door to his home-office open. No doubt it would be Christy trying to help, and he was working up the energy to perform for her in such a way that she would feel like her efforts were adequate. But his mood completely flip-flopped when instead of his lovely and well-meaning wife, it was his giant dork of a boyfriend. 

“Working outside of work? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Link forced a laugh as he stood up to embrace Rhett. “We can’t all live like we’re on a permanent vacation. Now that the honeymoon’s over, you’ll be back to the real world, too!”

“The real world doesn't have to suck, ya know?”

“It doesn’t suck,” Link lied. “It’s just life. The grind, or whatever.”

“That shouldn’t be us, man.”

Link rolled his eyes. “You’re just all energized and high on life or whatever from your vacation. You’ll be back down to earth with the rest of us suckers soon enough.”

“You look like you could use a bit of my energy. Might do ya some good to let it,” Rhett waggled his eyebrows, “You know, let it ‘rub off on ya’.”

Link wasn’t having to force the smile that was now splitting his face. 

“Didn’t you just have a whole week dedicated to sex? And the first thing you do when you get back is come over here and try to ‘rub’ on me?”

“That’s exactly right.” Rhett hugged Link tightly and kissed him deeply. 

“Guest room?” Link huffed when they took a breath. 

Rhett nodded and they stumbled their way across the hall and to the bed.

Rhett resisted Link’s clear attempts to steer them into their familiar patterns, and eventually Link gave into Rhett’s insistence that he give up control and let Rhett direct things tonight. 

“We’ve already established that I’m reinvigorated and you’re just a wound up ball of stress. Just let me do the work. Let me unwind you?”

Link nodded and allowed Rhett to lie him onto his back. He wished he’d had more of a head’s up so he could have shaved or showered or worn some nicer underwear, but Rhett made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t hung up on any of that. He was there for Link. Plain and simple. 

He had his lips around Link’s cock almost instantly. The anxiety just melted off of him, and Link could feel his tense muscles relax under Rhett’s touches. 

Link moaned softly and massaged his fingers through Rhett’s short hair and down to his shoulders. 

“So good for me, Rhett. You feel so good.”

Rhett pulled off and wiped his mouth. “You ain’t felt nothing yet.” He bounced Link’s dick on his lip a couple of times before he got up to finish undressing them both. He walked over to where he knew the lube was kept and began to finger himself in an unnecessarily theatrical display. 

“Fuck, Rhett… let me help with that.”

“You’re not doing a thing. I’m doing everything for you right now.” Rhett coated his hands in lube and began to work Link’s cock with them. Stroking him until he was upright and throbbing. Full cock aching and twitching for more of Rhett’s attention. 

Link held his breath in anticipation as Rhett straddled his narrow hips and began to sink himself down onto Link’s dick. 

Link’s tensed jaw unhinged itself in pleasure, groaning loudly as Rhett began to ride. The size of Rhett’s body towering over him as he fucked himself on Link’s cock was near-overwhelming to Link’s senses and Link found himself having to really focus on not cumming too soon. 

Link grabbed hold of Rhett’s hips, sliding them over to cup handfuls of his ass - subtly lifting and spreading Rhett as he bounced on him. Link’s thighs began to quiver as the week’s worth of tension threatened to leave his body all at once in one warm, sticky exodus. Link grit his teeth and tried to delay the inevitable. 

Before he gave in, he decided to ignore Rhett’s request to allow him to do all the work, and began to thrust his hips upward, meeting Rhett’s downward momentum to make him holler. 

The sound of Rhett’s heavy breaths, grunts and groans, and the scent of him as he began to drip sweat each time Link snapped his hips up against Rhett’s ass… Link was done. 

He dug his fingertips into Rhett’s sides as he came hard, speaking in tongues as he emptied his load into Rhett’s tight ass. 

“Fuck…” Link panted as Rhett eased up off of him and Link tried to sit up. 

“No,” Rhett husked. “Why don’t you relax and watch me touch myself for you?”

Link shook his cum-drunk head and sat up anyway. “Nuh-uh. You’re sweet to offer, honey. But if you think that after not having had you to myself in so long, if you think I’m not gonna taste you, you must be out of your pretty little head.”

Link nipped at Rhett’s chin.

“Hey! Not the face,” Rhett chided. 

“Your so-called beard will cover any of my love bites. Or just tell nosy folks Jess did it on your honeymoon.”

“Oh. You wanna make fun of my beard and then expect me to tell you what Jessie did for me on our trip?”

“You’ll tell me anyway. But I don’t wanna hear right now. Just us, baby.”

Rhett couldn’t have told Link anything if he’d wanted to the moment Link’s hot wet mouth was on his cock. His brain melted with the soft massaging of his tongue and lips. He was already hot and on edge from riding Link, it didn’t take much before his seed was dribbling over Link’s plump lips and down his chin. 

Link coughed and sputtered before obscenely rubbing his face on Rhett’s belly. 

“Gosh, Link! For a neat-freak, you’re awfully messy. Now we need to hurry up and get showered. We’re meeting the girls for dinner.”

“At this hour? Man, I got work tomorrow.”

“It’s not that late, old man. And we’re not done with this whole “work sucks” conversation…”

Link grumbled a little. But it was hard to be in too bad a mood now that he and Rhett had reunited. And he was genuinely excited to see Jessie. And he even felt happier to be having dinner with his gracious wife who’d so lovingly put up with his grumpy ass these past few days.

Everything was just a little easier with the McLaughlins in their lives. 


	7. xli.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot believe my original intent was “short, quick glimpses” 😅

Rhett hadn’t let Link off the hook with his determination for them to not work unfulfilling day jobs forever. Their conversations had comfortably continued over the weeks. 

They sat in Rhett’s living room, Rhett curled up on the couch with his head resting in Link’s lap. Link had been feeding Rhett bites of fried chicken and biscuits from a late lunch that they had grabbed when they decided to cut out of work early for the day. 

Rhett knew that it wasn’t that Link  _ wanted _ to work some lame desk job forever, he was just really motivated by security. Taking a risk in pursuing anything creative was by default not secure. So Rhett understood that he’d need to take baby steps in convincing Link that sacrificing a little in time and, yes, money would eventually pay off for them. Rhett believed in them so hard, sometimes he felt like he would explode with it. 

“I just can’t become some starving artist,” Link explained for the thousandth time. 

Rhett sat up for emphasis, placing a hand on the warm spot on Link’s thigh where his head had been resting. 

“Look at me, man!” Rhett exclaimed between bites of biscuit. “Do I seem like the kinda guy that’s signing up to be  _ starving _ ?”

“I’m serious, Rhett. I have a wife, a house, I mean… probably some kids someday… maybe soon? I dunno. It just doesn’t feel like the right time to be losing focus.”

Rhett’s stomach clenched a little at the mention of kids. It was always somewhat of a given that that was in their future. Well, not specifically his and Link’s future. But his and Jessie’s; and Link and Christy’s. Feelings started trying to scratch at the edges of his consciousness, but he pushed them back. 

“I’m not asking you to quit your job and move to Hollywood with me or anything wild. I’m just asking that we pencil in concrete plans to flex our creativity together once a week. Is that too much to ask?”

A dramatic voice in his head whined that if Link couldn’t give him kids, he could give him one night out of his week. But he knew even as he thought it that his logic was unfair. 

“Thursdays?”

“Okay. Thursdays! I bet Jessie’s dad would let us use some of the vacant office space as a kind of studio.”

“Dang Rhett, you really have been thinking this through!”

“What part of “I want to make my life with you” isn’t sinking in?”

Rhett was self conscious of his own dramatics, but they had the desired effect. Link came flying into his arms, kissing him fiercely. 

“We can set up the studio over the long weekend, when the girls are doing their camping trip,” Link said between kisses. Wanting Rhett to know that he was as committed to this as Rhett was, even if he still had reservations about sacrificing time and money to get their ideas off the ground, that didn’t mean he didn’t want to. He just had mental blocks to work through before he could get to where he wanted to be. 

“You’re not gonna regret this,” Rhett promised him. 

“I’ve never regretted anything we’ve done together, and I don’t believe I ever will.”

The feeling of Link’s kisses changed. And his hips began to move in Rhett’s lap. Rhett instinctively leaned himself back on the couch, his body automatically open to whatever Link intended for it. 

Link’s eyes looked over his body as if it was something new to him. He had a way of doing that, of making Rhett feel like some kind of beautiful surprise no matter how many times Link had made himself familiar with every square inch of Rhett. 

Link lay himself on top of Rhett and stretched out to cover him as best he could. They connected with a kiss and Link rolled his hips downward, rutting against Rhett’s pelvis. 

Rhett’s legs opened and hooked around Link. Their kisses dissolved into hot exhales against one another as they worked themselves up. Rhett reached down to palm Link’s crotch and felt the hard outline of him beneath his pants. 

They then came to the mutual decision that they were both overdressed. They peeled each other’s shirts off and traded kisses and nips at necks, shoulders, chests. They shimmied out of their pants and enjoyed the feeling of each other’s excitement through only the thin material of their underwear. Hot, damp, desperate. 

Their bodies were ready. Their hearts were racing, and nearly exploded in unison as Rhett's front door opened. 

Link rolled down onto the floor and Rhett tried to cover up before he realized it was just Jessie. 

“Oh my gosh, guys!” She shouted as she quickly closed the door behind her. “What were you thinking?!”

“I’m sorry, Jess,” Link pleaded. “We didn’t know you’d be back-“

“Didn’t know I’d be…? I don’t care what y’all were doing! I’m not the problem. The problem is that you’re just out here in the living room without even locking the front door! What if it wasn’t me?”

“Anyone else would knock, baby,” Rhett assured her. 

“And if your parents or your brother decided to get a little too familiar and pull the ole knock-and-open??”

“They wouldn’t.”

“But do you  _ know _ that? Would you risk them finding out?”

Neither one of them had much to say. 

“I love you both. So much. I’m not ready to deal with the aftermath of anyone outside of the four of us finding out about… well, the four of us.”

“I swear, Jessie,” Link said softly. “We were just talkin. It wasn’t planned or nothin. We just didn’t think to lock the door when things, uh… took a turn.”

“We’ll think next time,” Rhett promised. “We would never intentionally put you in such an uncomfortable position. We know what’s at stake, and we weren’t trying to take risks or anything stupid. It’s like Link said, we were just talkin out here-“

“It’s okay,” Jessie sighed and put down her handbag. She shook her head, and smiled. “No harm done. So, uh. What exactly was I interrupting?”

She made a show of locking the door.

“Do you wanna see?” Link asked, his eyes lit up as the scolding had passed. 

Rhett looked between Jessie and Link. “You maybe… wanna do more than see? I know we’ve talked about some, uh, scenarios?”

“What have you all been talkin about?” Link desperately wanted to know.

Now it was Jessie’s turn to blush. 

“Well, Link, I… I think a lot about bein with the both of you... at the same time.”

“Oh hell yes,” Rhett said, practically giddy. “Link?”

“Just tell me where you want me,” Link said, fully hard again already, imagining the possibilities. 

“You can start by undressing me,” Jessie said with a smile. 

She didn’t have to ask twice. Rhett stepped right up to remove her blouse. And Link sidled up beside him to bury his face between her breasts. Rhett unhooked her bra and Link was instantly taking her nipple into his mouth. Jessie tilted her head back in pleasure and Rhett leaned in to kiss her loosely parted lips. 

Link continued to work his way down Jessie’s body with his lips. He peeled her pants off with his fingers, and then tugged her panties down by the lacy hem with his teeth. 

Link gave her a soft wet kiss between her legs, and Jessie moaned into Rhett’s mouth. 

Rhett temporarily withdrew from the kiss to suggest they move back over to the couch. 

Link pulled her hips flush with the edge of the couch and spread her legs. He teasingly traced a finger through her wetness and asked in a soft voice, “Is this anything like these “scenarios” you have been telling Rhett about? My mouth on you, and your mouth… on him maybe? Or…”

Jessie tried to rock his hips against his fingertip and her head was clearly spinning. She looked at Rhett as she replied, “Well, sometimes. Yeah.”

Rhett kissed her neck and told her, “You don’t have to feel obligated, not even to yourself, to act out every fantasy just ‘cause you have the opportunity. If you’re not comfortable-“

Jessie’s chest was heaving with her heavy breaths, and she was dripping against Link’s fingers. Her eyes hardened with determination. “I’m comfortable.”

“Then tell me where you want me, girl,” Link practically begged. “

“Sit on the couch,” she told Link. 

Link slipped out of his underwear and sat down as directed. Rhett stepped out to grab lube, and returned to the room to find Link completely naked, slowly stroking his cock on the couch. 

Rhett dropped onto his knees and gave Link’s length a couple of sucks. 

“Wow, that’s hot,” Jessie sighed, as she watched Rhett pull off to lube up Link’s cock. 

He looked at her and asked if he looked ready for her. She nodded with excitement. Rhett took his slicked fingers and spread Jessie’s ass to slip some of the lube inside her. He could feel where her natural wetness had dripped down to slicken the outside of her rim. He toyed with that silky feeling before sliding his thick fingers slowly inside of her to prepare her for Link’s even thicker cock. She rocked herself against him and moaned deliciously as he moved inside her. Rhett could not wait to watch as Link moved inside her, in the same way that Link moved inside him. 

“I’m ready,” she told them. 

“Oh thank goodness,” Link whined. “Y’all are killing me over here!”

Rhett helped Jessie to balance as she hovered over Link’s lap. And Rhett guided Link’s swollen, glistening tip to touch the wet puckered ring of muscle, tight but pliant, welcoming the head of Link’s cock as she began to sit herself onto his dick. 

“Look at me, Jess,” Rhett encouraged her, and Link could feel as their eye contact relaxed her and her body welcomed him deeper. Swallowing him whole. 

Rhett held her hands as she took a moment to get used to the fullness of him back there. She was wet and relaxed enough that the stretch and pleasure-to-pain ratio was in her favor. Less pain than when Link fucked her too hard and knocked into her cervix. Which, she didn’t always hate, if she was honest, it was often its own kind of turn on. But this was  _ nice.  _ He was fully inside her, and the heat of his body behind her, his hands harshly gripping her hips as she clenched around him, slowly rocked against him, all the sensation making her jaw hang open. 

Rhett lifted a finger to her open mouth and she automatically tightened her lips to suck on it suggestively. 

Rhett followed the lead and took his tented boxers off and slowly brought his dick toward her lips. Link had a perfect view as Rhett began to slide in and out of his wife’s mouth. 

“Gosh, that looks so good,” Link husked. 

Jessie smiled and stuck her tongue out for Rhett to slap his dick against it. 

“Ffffuck,” Link whined as he began to lift Jessie up and down, slowly fucking her ass as Rhett moaned obscenely from the things Jessie was doing with her talented mouth. Her whines and moans vibrating around his shaft. 

Rhett realized that if Link turned his head just right, he could reach Link’s mouth as well, and he got a thrill out of dipping his cock back and forth between his wife’s and his boyfriend’s pretty mouths. Strings of pre-cum and spit shined freely among them and it felt thrilling and borderline pornographic. 

“Don’t get too carried away,” Jessie cautioned Rhett. “I don’t want you to cum before you’ve completed my fantasy.”

Rhett’s dick twitched, but he slowed down. He wiped each of their mouths and kissed each of them deeply before he began to work down Jessie’s body. Link was fucking her steadily by now and each little grunt and moan of pleasure threatened to make Rhett spill prematurely. He could have happily sat back and slowly stroked himself to completion watching how gorgeous they were together. 

But Jessie had an even better role in mind for him. 

He couldn’t help pausing at her chest as he watched her perfect breasts bouncing heavily with Link’s thrusts. He pressed his face in close to let them bounce against his face, his thin facial hair tickling her sensitive skin and making her giggle. And her giggle appeared to do  _ something _ to what Link was experiencing, judging from the odd noise it drew from him, and the way his fingers dug into her hips. 

Rhett suckled on each nipple before he moved down to where he’d been longing to be this whole time. 

Jessie’s pussy was dripping wet. Aching to be filled. 

The sights and sounds of Link sliding inside of her. And her asscheeks slapping rhythmically against Link’s thighs… Rhett followed their pacing and then offered his tongue for Jessie to rub her clit against as she bounced up and down on Link’s dick. 

That had her whining high and sweet. Shamelessly overwhelmed by the sensations. 

Rhett’s chin was covered in her slickness as her pussy practically weeped for some of the attention that her other holes had been blessed by. 

Rhett slid a finger inside her pussy and the slickness took his breath away. He wasn’t sure there would be room for what she really wanted. But the human body was an incredible thing…

Rhett continued to lick and suck at her clit as he fingered her, he could  _ feel _ Link on the other side. He licked at her wet and desperate hole as it swallowed up his finger. 

“Fuck me, Rhett. Wanna feel you both!” 

Link stilled his hips as they adjusted their postures to accommodate all the bodies they wanted to involve. Jessie’s small stature was helpful. She leaned back against Link’s chest and pulled her legs out to the side to try to accommodate Rhett’s hips between her legs. 

He managed to line himself up and slid easily into her tight wetness. Tight was an understatement. Link filling her up on the other side of her walls had compressed the space that he had to work with and it felt otherworldly incredible as he squeezed his thick meaty cock inside of her. 

“Fuck!” She cried out and caused both men to freeze. “No, don’t stop. You’re not hurting me. It just feels so fucking good. You both fill me up so good. It’s unbelievable. Oh god, the size of you both. I wish I could see how you look. Both y’all’s big dicks filling me.. Oh god!” 

“My view  _ is _ pretty incredible,” Rhett said as he began to experimentally slide himself in and out. He massaged her clit slowly with his thumb and it felt like her entire body clenched. 

“Oh!” Link moaned from beneath them. “I can barely move..”

“Can ya breathe?” Jessie asked.

“Yeah.”

“Then we’ll move for ya.”

Rhett nodded and began to fuck her slowly. She followed his pacing and began to move her body with his, riding Link’s cock as Rhett fucked her pussy. 

“I can feel you, Rhett,” Link moaned. “It’s… it’s too good.. I can’t last like this.”

“Please Link!” Jessie begged. “I’m close!”

Link growled and tried to thrust his hips as best he could to try to help her cum without sending himself over first. Highly motivated by imagining what her orgasm would feel like around his cock.

Rhett doubled down on the attention his nimble fingers gave her clit. Loving the way he could feel Link’s dick inside of her, her body tightening more and more taut as her orgasm built, and the wet slap of their balls together as they both fucked her. 

Jessie threw her head back with her mouth open in a high pitched moan as her tits bounced wildly and both men nearly came in unison as they felt her entire pelvis contract with the raw power of her orgasm. Every muscle tightened and released repeatedly around the hard dicks that had been fucking into her so nicely. She tried to suck the energy from every last moment of this configuration. Link’s length probing her backside, and lifting his and her hips up off the couch with his final thrust and his hot wet release deep inside her. 

Rhett buried his cock to the hilt, twitching as he dribbled his cum deep in her pussy. He continued to use slow reverent strokes to fuck her softly for as long as his hardness held before pulling out and finally taking in the full sight of how sweaty and spent both of his lovers looked. He helped to lift Jessie’s still trembling body up to lay her gently at Link’s side. 

“You look like you’re going to fall asleep, Link.” Rhett chuckled.

Link shook his head as a big smile spread over his face. “What I feel is…  _ high _ .”

“You guys are a dream come true,” Jessie sighed. “So literally...”

Rhett’s knees were practically jelly. “I’m gonna get the shower ready. We should order pizza or something. I have zero energy for the foreseeable future. Link, please stay over?”

Link hummed happily. “I’ll call Christy and tell her to come on over. It’s so great that we have enough of our stuff over here that we don’t need an overnight bag or anything. Maybe I’ll just tell her to bring the Catchphrase?”

“That sounds fun!” Jessie said. “And y’all better look out. Christy and I have been synching up as we’ve been planning our weekend getaway. It’s not as tight a friendship as y’all’s, but we’re getting there!”

“Are you really?” Link teased, eyebrows waggling. “That, I’d like to see!”

Jessie punched Link in his arm. 

Rhett rolled his eyes, “I cannot believe you are still acting this horny so soon… You can’t be trusted on the phone, I’m gonna call Christy myself!”

“Good idea. I’m gonna grab that first shower,” Jessie announced, trying not to act as self conscious as she felt with both her men slowly beginning to leak out of her. She was already trying to decide which of her pajamas Christy might think were the cutest, and trying to remember which of her favorite snacks they still had in the cupboard. 

She was looking forward to tonight. And even more so toward the long weekend...


End file.
